^' ^'*- 



c*' 



.,*^?^.* ^t'^ 



i\- ^ 






\ 



\^ 



O. J ^ <, 



XT' 



' X .♦^^ 



■< *• ^ "^ " " V^' s^ 



\> s^ ^ "^ " ^ 



"^/^ 



cP 



•^^ 






\.,^^ 



V » 






v^o^^^ 







?5 ^. ' > 



o5 Q, 












> T- V >■ '^ ^i^ 









S 






"^^o^ 






% > 



.^'' "^ 






0^ 9p,'^^tCT^'^^ c>. 



0^ V o o V^^ 

^ ■^ <3 c^ » -^ 



o,G^ 



.^^ 



^^•^% 'v;^c;^:\^/ 



T. '^ao^ 






•0^ 



("^ .. ^ * 



^o"^ 



a^' 



,^^ • ^^> 



9^. 












*^> 






o" . 



Q^ '^ 






%>■ - 



^/ -0. 

^ <y 6 •> \ V O"^ 









cP^.S 



^\ 



•A 









<?^ 



?A, 



V / ^ %l # ^■ 






.^^ °^' 


















.N^ 









^.^ %.^ 




\ > V * 



.s ^^ 



:% 









^yt^ 






^/ 



^^'^J^.^^o.%''-^'J'\^^<'.<C.--' r^ 



0^ 

9^ 




« ^V<> ^ ^ {3 cj. 



/ . . s - o^ 



c- 






- ^#^ 






>^ 
















.^^ 



c 



>o^ ^ 



'""'% 















Q 












.0 

Q 



•r^ ■ » 







y 1 ■' * " /• 




LIFE, SPEECHES AND SERVICES 



OF 




:ii^W JUIIINl^UiI 





SEVENTEENTH 



PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES. 



With a full history of his Lile ; his career as a Tailor Boy, 
Alderman. Mayor, Legislator, State Senator, Governor of Ten- 
nessee, and his services in Congress, with his Speeches on the 
Rebellion, and the part taken by him from the first outbreak of 
the War, with his Speeches, Proclamations, Acts, and services 
since becoming President of the United States. 



PHILADELPHIA: 

T. B. PETERSON & BROTHERS, 
30G CHESTNUT STREET. 



r 






*-f 



Eutercd, according to Act of Cong-i-ess, in the year 1865, by 

T. B. PETERSON & BKOTHERS, 

In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States, in and for the 
Eastern District of Pennsylvania. 



<^'i ^ 



CONTENTS. 



ftJf 

' 7 \,f 



•***• > 



PAGE 

Andrew Johnson's Birth and Parentage — Death of his 

Father 22 

Andrew apprenticed to a Tailor 23 

He works as a Journeyman Tailor in South Carolina — His 

removal to East Tennessee 24 

His Marriage and subsequent Eomantic History — He is 

educated by his wife 24 

His debut on the Political stage — is elected Alderman, 

Mayor and Legislator 25 

He is chosen Presidential Elector, and subsequently 

elected State Senator 26 

Andrew Johnson becomes a Congressman — His Official 

career at Washington 27 

Johnson as Governor of Tennessee 28 

Andrew Johnson as United States Senator 29 

The Secession movement in 1860 29 

Johnson insulted and burned in Effigy 30 

Andrew Johnson's Speech at Cincinnati 30 

Proposed Amendments to the Constitution 38 

The origin of the Rebellion — Object of the War 39 

Speech of Andrew Johnson, on the Resolution approving 

certain acts of the President for suppressing Rebellion. 40 

The War in Tennessee — Johnson's personal experiences. . 91 

Andrew Johnson as Military Governor of Tennessee 92 

Johnson's determination of character 110 

Nominated for Vice-President 113 

President Lincobi's opinion of Andrew Johnson 114 

17 



18 CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

The Presidential Election 115 

Andrew Johnson sworn in as Vice-President 115 

His Inaug-ural Address 116 

Indications of Johnson's poHcy 118 

The Martyrdom of Abraham Lincoln 121 

The Cabinet annoimcement to President Johnson 123 

Address of President Andrew Johnson 124 

Is waited on by the Clergy and Treasury Officers 139 

His Reception of the Illinois Delegation 139 

The President's Reply 141 

Reception of the Christian Commission 144 

Reply of the President 145 

Reception of the Committee of the New York Chamber 

of Commerce 146 

The President's Reply 147 

Reception of the British Ambassador 147 

Reply of the President 148 

Reception of the Diplomatic Corps 149 

Replj'^ of the President 150 

Address to Loyal Southerners 151 

Important Speech to the Indiana Delegation 154 

Reception of a Delegation from Pennsylvania, with a letter 
from Governor Curtin 156 

Reply of the President 157 

Another Pennsylvania Delegation, headed by Hon. Simon 
Cameron and Hon. Thaddeus Stevens 158 

Reply of the President 159 

Courage of the President 161 

The Last Days of the War— The President's Policy 162 

Appointment of a Day of Humiliation and Prayer 163 

Reduction of the Military Expenses of the Government. . 165 

Commerce in Insurrectionary States 167 

The Military Commission for the Trial of the Accomplices 
of John Wilkes Booth, the murderer of President Lin- 
coln 168 

The Flight of Jefferson Davis — Connection of himself and 

other Rebels with the Assassination 169 

Re-establishment of Federal authority in Virginia 170 

Virtual Close of the Rebellion — Piratical Cruisers 172 



CONTENTS. 19 

PAGE 

Rules and Regulations concerning Commercial Inter- 
course with Insurrectionary States 173 

Address to Colored People 179 

A Foreign Consul appointed at Richmond, Ya 181 

Reception of the French Minister 182 

The President's Reply 183 

Opening of Southern Ports 183 

President Johnson declines the Testimonial of a Carriage, 
Horses, Harness, etc., offered him by some of the prom- 
inent citizens of New York, with the correspondence... 185 

Reorganization of the Union — Confiscation of Property — 
Rights of Citizenship, etc 187 

Opinion of Attorney General Speed, in relation to the 
Amnesty Proclamations of December 8th, 1863, and of 
March 2Gth, 1864, issued by President Lincoln 187 

The Amnesty Proclamation of December 8th, 1863, issued 
by President Lincoln 196 

The Amnesty Proclamation of March 26th, 1864, issued 
by President Lincoln 200 

The Amnesty Proclamation of President Andrew John- 
son, of May 29th, 1865 201 

The Reorganization Proclamation of President Andrew 
Johnson, of May 29th, 1865 204 

Address of President Johnson to the Sabbath-school Chil- 
dren of Washington City, on May 29th, 1865 207 

Character and Policy of Andrew Johnson. 212 



LIFE, SPEECHES, AND SERVICES 



OP 



ANDREW JOHNSON. 



SEVENTEENTH PRESIDENT OF THE 
UNITED STATES. 



4 « • • ¥ 



History is being created very rapidly in America at 
this era. We cannot say, in Biblical language, that " a 
nation is born in a day," but we can say, with truth, that 
great principles are receiving their verification with almost 
instantaneous flashes, and that character is being tested in 
such crucibles as humanity never before expected to be 
tried in. Tremendous tests are applied to military repu- 
tations, and holocausts of failures are piled up for the 
wondering speculation of future generations. Political 
fame has also been sternly brought to the test, and when 
found wanting, have been cast aside. The stern practi- 
cality of the American people has been quickened by the 
events of this war, and they will not brook imbecility, luke- 
warmness, or inattention to the great work before the 
nation. The Republic has just lost, by the infamous blow 
of an assasin, a beloved head. The stroke came from a 
representative of the slave aristocracy, which has sought 
to destroy the life of the nation, and it fully represented 
the feeling of that faction towards the Republic. The 

martyr-victim who fell, represented the sentiment of the 

21 



22 LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 

loyal people, in his true democracy, his magnanimity, and 
his sympathy with all humanity. 

In his successor, Andrew Johnson, whose life we are 
about to narrate, we have just such a representative of the 
people as our martyred President. Born in obscurity, 
brought up in comparative ignorance, and finally strug- 
gling into distinction almost unaided, Andrew Johnson's 
career is salmost parallel with that of Abraham Lincoln. 
The same traits of American character inspired their 
hearts and nerved their souls, and from youth to man- 
hood, they were impelled by common impulses. Andrew 
Johnson has exulted in the fact that he was no slave- 
holding oligarch ; that he was " a plebeian," and as an 
American citizen, he could have no other title before 
which, as to a crown, he could "bid kings bow." A 
native of North Carolina, and a resident of Tennessee for 
nearly his entire life, he has inwrought into his character 
the sturdiest traits which mark the people of those com- 
monwealths, and in the grand test which tried the soul of 
every man in America, in 1860 and 1861, he was proof 
against both blandishments and the threats of treason. 

HIS BIRTH AND PARENTAGE— DEATH OP HIS 

FATHER. 

A little more than fifty years ago, a poor but industrious 
couple resided in Ilaleigh, the capital of North Carolina. 
Their social position was necessarily, from their pecuniary 
circumstances, of that grade which debarred them from 
all, save business intercourse, with their more wealthy and 
(aristocratic neighbors ; yet within their humble dwelling 
was born a babe, who was destined to attain a position 
in after years which but few of those who despised the 
parents by whom he was begotten ever realized. 

Andrew Johnson was born in Raleigh, on the 29th of 
Pecember, 1808. When Andrew was only .four years 



LIFE AND SKRVIC1i]S uF ANDRKW JOHNSON. 23 

of ago, his father, in exerting himself to save from 
drowning Colonel Thomas Henderson, the editor of the 
" Gazette," a newspaper published in Raleigh, unhappily 
itijiired himself so severely that his own life was sacri- 
ficed. 

AISTDIIEW APPRENTICED TO A TAILOR. 

From that time until he was ten years old, the youth 
was reared by a fond mother ; but at that tender age her 
pecuniary circumstances compelled his entering upon 
some trade, by which in the early future he could support 
himself and his widowed protector. He was therefore 
placed as an apprentice to a tailor in his native city, and 
until he was seventeen, plied the needle faithfully and 
patiently for his employer. The blessings of the public 
school system which are now guaranteed to the poor 
children of the Union, had not at that time been experi- 
enced in North Carolina, and consequently young Johnson 
was never enabled to spend an hour in a school-room. He, 
liowever, became anxious to learn, and this anxiety was 
greatly increased by an incident, which, although trivial 
in itself, was of momentous importance to the poor lad. 
A person residing in the town, who enjoyed the advan- 
tages of an education, was wont to visit the tailor's shop 
and read to the apprentices and journeymen while they 
were at work. His favorite book, and one which appeared 
to please the workmen more than any other, was a 
volume of speeches, principally those of British statesmen, 
and so interested did young Johnson become, that he 
determined to apply himself to study after he had finished 
his daily labors. He, by perseverance, soon mastered 
the alphabet, and then soliciting the privilege of using 
the book as a means by which he might learn to spell, his 
request was more than granted by the owner, who, instead 
of loaning, presented the work, and also gave him some 
instruction in the formation of words. His exertions 



24 LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON, 

were crowned with success, and to his great delight he 
found himself able to read the speeches to which he had 
only a short time before been such an interested listener. 

HE WORKS AS A JOURNEYMAN TAILOR IN 
SOUTH CAROLINA— HIS REMOVAL TO EAST 
TENNESSEE. 

In the latter part of the year 1824, his term of appren- 
ticeship having been completed, he bade adieu to Raleigh, 
and went to Laurens Court House, in the north-western 
part of South Carolina, where he worked as a journeyman 
for two years. While there, he became attached to a 
young lady, who returned his affection, and to whom it is 
said he was engaged to be married, but her family object- 
ing to the match on account of his youth and poverty, he, 
in May, 1826, left the scene of his mingled happiness and 
sorrow, and returned to Raleigh, where he worked at his 
trade until the following September. Believing that a 
settlement farther to the westward offered greater pecuniary 
inducements, he, in September, 1826, removed to Greene- 
ville, in Eastern Tennessee, taking with him his mother 
and step-father. 

HIS MARRIAGE AND SUBSEQUENT ROMANTIC 
HISTORY-HE IS EDUCATED BY HIS WIFE. 

He had not been there many months before he married 
an estimable woman, and from the day the two became 
one, may be dated the commencement of a chapter in the 
history of the poor tailor boy which is as yet incompleted, 
and which is tinged with more romance than is generally 
found in the book of lives of distinguished men, even in 
this country, where none can justly claim superiority on 
account of birth or social position. Well educated her- 
self, she determined that her husband should enjoy the 
same blessings, and scarcely had the marriage ceremony 
been performed, before this excellent woman commenced 



LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 25 

the pleasing task of instructing her husband. Day after 
day, while he sat upon his board, she patiently remained 
by his side, book in hand, increasing the slight knowledge 
of reading he had secured while an apprentice in Raleigh. 
At night, when the needle and the partly made garments 
had been laid aside, she substituted the pen and pencil 
for the book, and after months of sweet labor she had the 
satisfaction of finding her efforts rewarded, and her once 
ignorant pupil become proficient in reading, writing, and 
arithmetic, rudiments which she knew the industry of her 
husband would soon enable him to mature into a complete 
system of education. While this romantic portion of 
their history was in progress, young Johnson again 
determined to change his location, and removed farther 
westward ; but failing to find a suitable place in which 
to settle, and at the solicitation of a friend, who felt 
assured that his industrious habits could not fail to secure 
success in Greene ville, he returned to that place, and re- 
commenced work. 

HIS DEBUT ON THE POLITICAL STAGE— IS 
ELECTED ALDERMAN, MAYOR AND LEGIS- 
LATOR. 

Andrew Johnson's position in the community was of 
that character which naturally made him inimical to what- 
ever would give power and wealth to the few, at the ex- 
pense of the many ; and thanks to the tuition of his wife, 
and to his own natural powers, he soon became known as 
one of the most able exponents of the views of the work- 
ing men in Greeneville. He talked with them and to 
them, and by their influence and power succeeded in 
crushing a powerful aristocratic sentiment, which had 
until that time ruled in the town, and which had prohibited 
honest citizens who labored for their daily bread, from 
occupying even the most trivial political offices. 



26 LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 

The first contest took place in the year 1828, when Mr 
Johnson was triumphantly elected Alderman over the 
candidate of the aristocratic coterie, which had for so 
many years presided over the destinies of the town. In 
1829, and again in 1830, he was re-elected to the same 
position. In the latter year he was elected to the Mayor- 
ality, the duties of which ofiSce he ably performed for 
three years, at the same time holding the position of 
Trustee of Rhea Academy, to which he had been ap- 
pointed by the County Court. In 1834 he used his in- 
fluence to ensure the adoption of a new Constitution for the 
State, by which the freedom of speech and of the press 
was guaranteed, and by which also the liberties of the 
masses were greatly enlarged. In the following year he 
was elected to the Legislature from Greene and Washing- 
ton counties, and at once became a prominent member, 
a prominence attained more particularly by the earnest 
and decided manner in which he opposed a scheme of in- 
ternal improvements, which he contended would prove a 
failure, and would at the same time incur a vast debt, 
which could but cripple the resources of the common- 
wealth. This opposition prevented his re-election in 
1837 ; but two years later, when the evils he had pre- 
dicted by the passage of the bill had become manifest, 
and the public had been made painfully aware, by the 
rapidly accumulating debt, of their error in having 
encouraged their legislators to vote in favor of the 
scheme, he again became a candidate, and was re-elected 
by a large majority. 

HE IS CHOSEN PRESIDENTIAL ELECTOR, AND 
SUBSEQUENTLY ELECTED STATE SENATOR. 

In 1840, he was a Presidential Elector on the Demo- 
cratic ticket, in the contest between General Harrison 
and Martin Van Buren, and during the campaign can- 



LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 27 

vassed a large portion of Tennessee, not unfrequently 
meeting upon the stump some of the most able orators of 
the opposition party, and by his eloquence competing 
successfully in his political arguments with the most 
talented of his oratorical adversaries. In 1841, he was 
sent to the State Senate, from Greene and Hawkins 
counties, by a handsome majority, and while in that body 
introduced some excellent and judicious projects for 
internal improvements in his section of the State, 

ANDREW JOHNSON BECOMES A CONGRESS- 
MAN. HIS OFFICIAL CAREER AT WASHING- 
TON. 

Two years later (1843) he was rewarded for his valuable 
services in the Legislature by a nomination for Congress 
in the First District of Tennessee, comprising seven coun- 
ties, and although opposed by Colonel John A. Asken, a 
United States Bank Democrat, and a gentleman of great 
popularity, he was elected, and in December of the same 
year took his seat in the House of Representatives at 
Washington. His maiden speech was a forcible address 
in support of the resolution to restore the fine imposed 
upon General Andrew Jackson for having placed New 
Orleans under martial law, and this was followed at 
different times during the session by no less able argu- 
ments in advocacy of the leading Democratic measures 
which were brought up for the consideration of the House. 
In the ensuing session he spoke and voted with his col- 
leagues who were favorable to the annexation of Texas, 
and during an exciting debate, he made an eloquent 
speech in answer to some remarks of Mr. Clingman of 
North Carolina, who had made certain slanderous asser- 
tions relative to the position of the members of the Cath- 
olic Church at the preceding Presidential election. There 
were few members of this church in Mr. Johnson's district, 



28 LIFE AND SEKVICES OF ANDKEW JOHNSON. 

but he defended them with an earnestness and power 
which confounded his Carolina opponent, and caused him 
to receive the thanks of the denomination of which he had 
voluntarily become the champion. 

Mr. Johnson warmly advocated the annexation of Texas, 
and in alluding to the capabilities of that State he thought 
it pVobable it would " prove to be the gateway out of 
Avhich the sable sons of Africa are to pass from bondage 
to freedom and become merged in a population congenial 
with themselves." In 1845 he was re-elected to the 
House of Representatives, and ranged himself at once 
with the advocates of the doctrine of " 54° 40' " in the 
contest between this country and Great Britain on the 
Oregon boundary question. He, however, sustained Presi- 
dent Polk in the subsequent adjustment of the question. 
In 184T, being again elected to Congress, Mr. Johnson 
made an eloquent argument in favor of the veto power. 
He presented an historical outline of the exercise of the 
veto power, running back to the Roman republic. He 
showed that from the establishment of the Federal gov- 
ernment to the time at which he spoke, the veto power 
had been exercised twenty-five times : by Washington, 
twice ; by Madison, six times ; by Monroe, once ; by 
Jackson, nine times ; by Tyler, four times ; by Polk, 
thrice. He also continued his advocacy of the Mexican 
war during this session, and he opened the agitation of 
the Homestead bill, of which he continued to be the advo- 
cate until its passage. 

JOHNSON AS GOVERNOR OF TENNESSEE. 

In the year 1853, Andrew Johnson and Gustavus A. 
Henry were competitors for the office of Governor. The 
contest was unusually fierce, and the State was thoroughly 
canvassed by both candidates, who were men of the first 
order of ability. Mr. Johnson triumphed by a consider- 



LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 29 

able majority, and controlled the destinies of the common- 
wealth until 1855. In the latter year he was pitted 
against Meredith P. Gentry, and after an active contest 
was re-elected Governor. 



ANDREW JOHNSON AS UNITED STATES 
SENATOR. 

In 1857, Mr. Johnson was elected United States Senator 
for a full term of six years. He urged his favorite project, 
the Homestead bill ; he pressed a resolution of scrutiny 
into the expenses of the government ; and he took an 
active part in the discussion of all the prominent measures 
of the period, extending to March, 1862. 

THE SECESSION MOVEMENT IN 1860. 

It would be needless to go into details describing the 
rise of the rebellious feeling in the year 1860, after the 
election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United 
States. That event threw the entire South into a fever 
of excitement, which culminated in the secession of South 
Carolina from the Union, in December 3, 1860. At Wash- 
ington, the fury of political feeling was really awful, and 
Congress rang with fierce debates. Mr. Crittenden, and 
other "conservative" members of both houses, endeavored 
to allay the storm, but in vain, and sides were taken by all 
the members, for or against secession. We need not say 
that Andrew Johnson unhesitatingly declared for the 
Union, without any reservation. He warned those 
senators and representatives who left their seats to follow 
the fortunes of the rebellion, that they would suffer the 
doom of traitors, and he declared that the Federal Gov- 
ernment had full power to coerce a State. His views 
on the great questions involved, will be given in subse- 
quent pages. 



80 LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 

JOHNSON INSULTED, AND BURNED IN EFFIGY. 

The course of Mr. Johnson did not please the mad- 
dened secessionists of Tennessee, and on the 22d of 
December, 1860, he was burned in e^gy, amid the hoot- 
ings of a mob, at Memphis. He left Washington city on 
his return home, in April, 1861, and on the 21st of that 
month he suffered personal peril at Lynchburg, Va., 
being groaned and hissed by a large mob, who threatened 
to take him from the cars to hang him. The Memphis 
"Avalanche" of April 25th, exultantly described his hav- 
ing his nose pulled by infuriated men, backed by mobs, 
at Liberty, Ya., and at other places along his route from 
Washington to Tennessee. Sach seeming indignities 
were the more honorable to him, inasmuch as they arose 
from his noble devotion to principle, when strong men 
failed and yielded to what they weakly assumed to be the 
real "sentiment" of their States in reference to secession. 

On the 19th of June, 1861, Mr. Johnson was the reci- 
pient of a warm public welcome from the loyal people of 
Cincinnati. On that occasion he delivered an able ad- 
dress, which we think worthy of record here : 

SPEECH AT CINCINNATI. 

Fellow- Citizens : — In reply to the cordial welcome 
which has just been tendered to me, through your chosen 
organ — in reply to what has been said by the gentlemen 
chosen by you to bid me welcome to Cincinnati, I have 
not language adequate to express my feelings of grati- 
tude. I cannot find language to thank you for the tender 
of good fellowship which has been made to me on the 
present occasion. I came here without any expectation 
that such a reception was in store for me. I had no ex- 
pectation of being received and welcomed in the lan- 
guage, I may say, the eloquent and forcible language of 
your chosen organ. I am deserving of no such tender. 

I might conclude what little I am going to say by 
merely responding to, and endorsing every single sentence 



LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON. '61 

uttered on this occasion, in welcoming me to your midst. 
{Applause. ) 

For myself, I feel that while I am a citizen of a 
Southern State — a citizen of the South, and of the State 
of Tennessee, I feel, at the same time, that I am also a 
citizen of the United States. (Applause.) Most cor- 
dially do I respond to what has been said in reference to 
the maintenance of the Constitution of the United States, 
in all its bearings, in all its principles therein contained. 
The Constitution of the United States lays down the 
basis upon which the Union of all the States of this Con- 
federacy can and may be maintained and preserved, if it 
be literally and faithfully carried out. {Apj)lause.) So 
far as I am concerned, feeling that I am a citizen of the 
Union — that I am a citizen of the United States, I am 
willing to abide by that Constitution. I am willing to 
live under a Government that is built upon and per- 
petuated upon the principles laid down by the Constitu- 
tion, which was framed by Washington and his compeers, 
after coming from the heat and strife of bloody revolution. 
(Applause.) 

1 repeat, again, that I have not language adequate to 
express my gratitude and appreciation of the kindness 
which has been manifested in regard to my humble self. 
I cannot sufficiently thank you, for the manifestation of 
your appreciation of the course I have pursued, in regard 
to the crisis which is now upon this country. I have no 
words to utter, or rather I have words which will not 
give utterance to the feelings that I entertain on this 
occasion. (Applause.) I feel, to-day, a confidence in 
my own bosom, that the cordiality and the sympathy, 
and the response that comes here from the people of 
Ohio, is heartfelt and sincere. I feel that in reference to 
tlie great question now before the people, those whom I 
see ijefore me are honest and sincere. (Applause.) I 
repeat again, and for the third time, that I have no lan- 
guage with which I can express my gratitude to you, and 
at the same time, my devotion to the principles of the 
Constitution, and the flag and emblem of our glorious 
Uniptt^f States. (Applause.) 

I'kliow that there has been much said about the 
Korth, much said about the South. I am proud here to- 
day, to hear the sentiments which have been uttered in 
2 



82 LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 

reference to the North and the South, and the relations 
that exist between these two sections. {Applause.') I 
am glad to hear it said in such a place as this, that the 
pending difficulties — I might say, the existing war — 
which are now upon this country, do not grow out of any 
animosity to the local institution of any section. {Ap- 
plause.) I am glad to be assured that it grows out of a 
determination to maintain the glorious principles upon 
which the Government itself rests — the principles con- 
tained in the Constitution. — and, at the same time, to 
rebuke and to bring back, as far as may be practicable, 
within the pale of the Constitution, those individuals, or 
States even, who have taken it upon themselves to exer- 
cise a principle and doctrine at war with all government, 
with all association — politix'al, moral, and religious. {Ap- 
plause.) I mean the doctrine of secession, which is 
neither more nor less than a iieresy — a fundamental 
error — a political absurdity, con)ing in conflict with all 
organized government, with every thing that tends to 
preserve law and order in the United States, or wherever 
else the odious and alxuninable doctrine may be attempted 
to be exercised. I look upon the doctrine of secession 
as comin<»: in conflict with all organism, moral and social. 
I repeat, without regard to the j^eculiar institutions of 
the respective States composing this Confederacy ; with- 
out regard to any Government that may be founded in the 
future, or exists in the present, this odious doctrine of 
secession should be crushed out, destroyed, and totally 
annihilated. No Government can stand, no religious, or 
moral, or social organization can stand, where this doc- 
trine is tolerated. {Applause.) Jt is disintegration — 
universal dissolvement — in making war u})on every thing 
that has a tendency to promote and ameliorate tlie con- 
dition of the mass of mankind. (Applnu.^e.) ^J'hcrefore, 
I repeat, that this odious and abominable doctrine^^<ou 
must pardon me for using a strong expression — I do not 
say it in a profane sense — but this doctrine I conceive to 
be — hell-horn and hell-hound, and one which will carry 
every thing in its train, unless it is arrested and crushed 
out from our midst. {Great Applause.) ^feMST 

In response to what has been said to me litu'ejB|piry, 
I confess, when 1 lay my hand upon my bosomV^feel 
gratified at bearing the sentiments that have been ut- 



LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 83 

tcrod — that we are all willing to stand up for the consti- 
tutional rights guaranteed to every State, every commu- 
nity — that we are all determined to stand up for the pre- 
rogatives secured to us in the Constitution as citizens of 
States, composing one grand Confederacy, whether we 
belong to the North or to the South, to the East or to 
the West. I say that I am gratified to hear such senti- 
ments uttered here to-day. I regard them as the most 
conclusive evidence that there is no disposition on the 
part of any citizens of the loyal States to make war upon 
any peculiar institution of the South, {Applause) whether 
it be slavery or any thing else — leaving that institution 
under the Constitution, to be controlled by time, circum- 
stances, and the great laws which lie at the foundation of 
all things which political legislation can control. {^p>- 
plause. ) 

AVhile I am before you, my countrj^men, I am in hopes 
it will not be considered out of place for me to make a 
single remark or two, in reference to myself as connected 
with the present crisis. My position in the Congress of 
the United States during its last session, is, I suppose, 
familiar to most, if not all of you. You know the doc- 
trine I laid down then, and I can safely say that the 
opinions I entertain now on the questions of the day, are 
as they were then. I have not changed them. I have 
seen no reason to change them. I believe that a Govern- 
ment without the power to enforce its laws, made in con- 
formity with the Constitution, is no Government at all. 
(Applause.) We have arrived at that period in our na- 
tional history, at which it has become necessary for this 
Government to say to the civilized, as well as to the pagan 
world, whether it is in reality a Government, or whether 
it is but a pretext for a Government. If it has power to 
preserve its existence, and to maintain the principles of 
the Constitution and the laws, that time has now arrived. 
If it is a Government, that authority should be asserted, 
I say, then, let the civilized world see that we have a 
Government Let us dispel the delusion under which we 
have been laboring since the inauguration of the Govern- 
ment in 1789 — let us show that it is not an ephemeral 
institution ; that we have not merely imagined we had a 
Government, and when the test came, that the Govern- 
ment frittered away between our fingers and quickly faded 



34: LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 

in the distance. (Applause.) The time has come when 
the Government reared by our fathers should assert itself, 
and give conclusive proof to the civilized world that it is 
a reality and a perpetuity. {Applause.) Let us show to 
other nations that this doctrine of secession is a heresy ; 
that States coming into the Confederacy, that individuals 
living in the Confederacy, under the Constitution have no 
right nor authority, upon their own volition, to set the 
laws and the Constitution aside, and to bid defiance to the 
authority of the Government under which they live. {Ap- 
plause.) 

I substantially cited the best authority that could bo 
produced upon this subject, and took this position during 
the last session of Congress. I stand here to-day before 
you and advocate the same principles for which I then 
contended. As early as 1833, (let me here say I am glad 
to find that the committee which have waited upon me 
on this occasion represent all the parties among which we 
have been divided ;) as early as 1833, I say, I formed my 
opinions in reference to this tloctrine of secession in the 
nullification of the laws of the United States. I held 
these doctrines up to the year 1850, and I maintain them 
still. {Applause.) I entertained these opinions down to 
the latest sitting of Congress, and I have reiterated them. 
I entertain and express them here to-day. {Applause.) 
In this connection 1 may be permitted to remark that, 
during our last struggle for the Presidency, all parties 
contended for the preservation of the Union. Without 
going further back, what was that struggle ? Senator 
Douglas, of the State of Illinois, was a candidate. His 
friends presented him as the best Union man. I -shall 
speak upon this subject in reference to my position. Mr. 
Breckinridge's friends presented him to the people as the 
Union candidate. I was one of Mr. Breckinridge's fricuids. 
The Bell men presented the claims of the Hon. John Bell, 
of Tennessee, for the Presidency, upon the ground that he 
was the best Union candidate. The Kepublican [)arty, 
so far as I understand them, have ahvays been in favor 
of the Union. Then here was the contest between four 
candidates presented to the consideration of the people 
of the United States. 

Now, where do we find ourselves ? In times gone 
by, you know we had our discussions and our quarrels. 



LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 85 

It was bank and anti-bank questions, tariff and anti-tariff, 
internal improvement and anti-internal improvement, or 
the distribution of the money derived from the sale of 
public land, amonn; th.e several States, Such measures 
as these was ])resented to the people, and the aim in the 
solution of all Mas how best to preserve the Union of 
these States. One party favored the measures as calcu- 
lated to promote the welfare of our common country ; 
another opposed them to bring' about the same result. 
■i'hen what was the former contest? Bringing it down 
to the present times, there li;^- been no disagreement be- 
tween Republicans, Bell men, Douglas men, and Breckin- 
ridge men, as regards the preservation of the Union of 
States. iS'ow, however, these measures are all laid aside ; 
all these party questions are left out of consideration, and 
the great question comes up as to the Constitution, as 
adopted by the old Articles of Confederation, and after- 
wards reaffirmed in the adoption of the Constitution of 
the United States. jS^ovv, when this great question arises 
involving the preservation and existence of the United 
States, 1 am proud to meet this vast concourse of people, 
and hear them say they are willing to lay aside all party 
measures, all party considerations, and come up to join 
in one fraternal hug to sustain the bright stars and broad 
stripes of our glorious Union — all willing to cooperate for 
the consummation of a sublime purpose, without regard 
to former party differences — that we arc all determined 
to stand fast by the Union of these States. (Jpp/ftMSf?.) 
So far as I am conceruf^d I am willing to say in this 
connection that I am proud to stand here among you as 
one of the humble upholders and supporters of the Stars 
and Stripes that have been borne by Washington through 
a seven years' revolution — a bold and manly struggle for 
our independence, and separation from the mother coun- 
try. That is my fl:ig — that flag was borne by AVashing- 
ton in triumph. Under it I want to live, and under no 
other. It is that flag that has been borne in triumph by 
the Revolutionary fathers over every battle-fleld, when 
our brave men, after toil and danger, laid down and slept 
on the cold ground, with no covering but the inclement 
sky, and arose in the tnorning, and renewed their march 
over the frozen ground, as the blood trickled from their 
feet — all to protect that banner and bear it aloft triumph- 



36 LIFE AND SERVICES OF AXDEEW JOHNSON. 

antly. I have iiitiiiiated that I should make some allusion 
to myself. I have indicated to you what were my opin- 
ions and my views from 1838 down to th'e moment 1 stand 
before you. With the facts in relation to the contest 
which took place recently in the State of Tennessee, you 
are all familiar. No longer ago than last February there 
was an extra session of the Legislature called. There 
was then a law passed authorizing a Convention to be 
called. The people of that State voted it down by a 
majority of sixty-four thousand. 

In a very short time afterwards, another session of 
the Legislature was called. This Legislature went into 
secret session in a very short time. While the Southern 
Confederacy, or its agents, had access to it, and were put 
in possession of the doings and proceedings of this secret 
session, the great mass of my own State were not per- 
mitted even to put their ears to the keyhole, or to look 
through a crevice in the doors, to ascertain what was be- 
ing done. A league with the Southern Confederacy has 
been formed, and the State has been handed over to the 
Southern Confederacy, with Jefferson Davis at its head. 
We, the people of Tennessee, have been handed over to 
this Confederacy, I say, like sheep in the shambles, bound 
hand and foot, to be disposed of as Jefferson Davis and 
his cohorts may think proper. This Ordinance was 
passed by the Convention with a proviso that it should 
be submitted to the people. The Governor was author- 
ized to raise fifty-five thousand men. Money was appro- 
priated to enable him to carry out this diabolical and 
nefarious scheme, depriving the people of their rights, 
disposing of them as stock in the market — handing them 
over body and soul, to the Southern Confederacy. 

Now you may talk about slaves and slavery, but in 
most instances when a slave changes his master, even he 
has the privilege of choosing whom he desires for his next 
master ; but in this instance the sovereign people of a 
free State have not been allowed the power or privilege 
of choosing the master they desired to serve. They have 
been given a master without their consent or advice. No 
trouble was taken to ascertain what their desires were — 
they were at once handed over to this Southern Con- 
federacy. 



LIFE AMD SEKVICES OF ANDREV/ JOHNSON. 37 

Mr. Johnson here gave a statement of the provisions 
of the Tennessee Secession Ordinance, etc. The eastern 
portion of the State, he said, had rejected the ordinance 
by a large majority, and would always remain (irmly op- 
posed to it. He referred to the refusal of Governor Har- 
ris to furnish arms to East Tennessee, unless the people 
would agree to fight for the State Government. Speaking 
of the persecution of the Union men in Tennessee, he 
said : 

But while this contest has been going on, a portion 
of our fellow-citizens have been standing up for the Con- 
stitution, and the Union, and because they have dared to 
stand upon the great embattlement of constitutional liber- 
ties, exercising the freedom and the liberty of speech, a 
portion of our people have declared that we are traitors; 
they have said that our fate was to be the fate of traitors; 
and that hemp was growing, and that the day of our exe- 
cution was approaching — that the time would come when 
those who dare stand by the Constitution and the princi- 
ples therein embraced, would expiate their deeds upon the 
gallows. We have met all these things. We have met 
them in open day. We have met them face to face — toe 
to toe — at least in one portion of the State. We have 
told them that the Constitution of the United States de- 
fines treason, and that deliuition is, that treason against 
the United States shall consist only in levying war against 
the General Government of the United States, We have 
told them that the time would come when the principles 
of the Constitution, and the law defining treason would 
be maintained. We have told them that the time would 
come when the judiciar}^ of the Government would be 
sustained in such a manner that it could define what was 
treason under the Constitution and the law made in con- 
formity with it, and that when defined, they would ascer- 
tain who were the traitors, and who it was that would 
stretch the hemp they had prepared for us. {Applause.) 

I know that in reference to myself and others, rewards 
have been offered, and it has been said that warrants have 
been issued for our arrest. Let me say to you here to- 
day, that I am no fugitive, especially no fugitive from jus- 



38 LIFE AND SERVICES OF AXDEEW JOIIXSON. 

tice. {Laughter.) If I Avere a fugitive, I would be a 
fugitive from tyranny — a fugitive from tlie reign of terror. 
But, thank God, tiie country in whieli I live, and that 
division of the State from which I hail, will record a vote 
of twenty-five thousand against the Secession Ordinance. 
The county in whicli I live, gave a majority of two 
thousand and seven against this odious, diabolical, nefa- 
rious, hell-born and hell-bound doctrine. 

The speaker continued in a strain similar to the above 
for about fifteen minutes longer. He made many humor- 
ous allusions to the " bravery" of the secession soldiery, 
and wound up with a heart-stirring appeal for the preser- 
vation of the Union. 

PBOPOSED AMENDMENTS TO THE CONSTITU- 
TION. 

During the session of 1861, amid the innumerable plans 
of pacification offered, Senator Johnson presented three 
amendments to the Constitution. One proposed to make 
the President and Vice-President elected by the people 
directly, instead of by the electoral college. The second 
proposed that the Senators of the United States should 
be elected by the people, instead of by the Legislatures 
of the various States. The third provided that the Su- 
preme Court should be divided into three classes, the 
term of the first class of judges to expire in four years 
from the time of making the classification ; of the second 
class in eight years, and of the third class in twelve years, 
and as these vacancies occur they are to be filled by per- 
sons chosen — one half from the Slave States and the 
other half from the Pree States, thereby taking the judges, 
so far as their selection goes, from the respective divisions 
of the country; also, that either the President or Vice- 
President, at each election, shall be from tlie slaveholding 
States. These amendments did not carry, but they af- 
forded Mr. Johnson an opportunity to njakc a very able 



■ LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 39 

Bpeccli, showing the impossibility of legally breaking up 
the Union and the absurdity of any State claiming the 
right of secession. He said : " If the States have the 
right to secede at will, for real or imaginary evils or op- 
pressions, I repeat again, this Government is at an end ; 
it is not stronger than a rope of sand ; its own weight 
will tumble it to pieces, and it cannot exist." 

On the loth of July, 18G1, Senator Johnson presented 
the credentials of Senators Willey and Carlisle, elected 
Senators by the Legislature of the new State of Western 
Virginia. After a long debate the credentials were re- 
ceived, and the new Senators were sworn in. 

THE ORIGIIT OF THE BEBELLION— OBJECT 
OP THE WAR. 

On the 26th of July, 1861, Senator Johnson offered the 
following resolution : 

Besolved, That the present deplorable civil war has been 
forced upon the country by the disunionists of the South- 
ern States, now in revolt against the Constitutional gov- 
ernment, and in arms around the Capitol; that, in this 
national emergency, Congress, banishing all feeling of 
mere passion or resentment, will recollect only its duty to 
the whole country ; that this war is not prosecuted upon 
our part in any spirit of oppression, nor for any purpose of 
conquest or subjugation, nor for the purpose of autho- 
rizing or interfering with the rights, or established insti- 
tutions of those States, but to defend and maintain the 
supremacy of the Constitution and all laws made in pur- 
suance thereof, and to preserve the Union, with all the 
dignity, equality, and rights of the several States, unim- 
paired ; that as soon as these objects are accomplished, 
the war ought to cease. 

After a spirited debate, the resolution was adopted — • 
ayes 80 ; noes 5. 

A similar resolution had been adopted by the House of 
Representatives, on motion of John J. Crittenden, of Ken- 
tucky, on the 22d of the same month. 



40 LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOnNSON. 

Perhaps the noblest speech of Mr. Johnson's Senatorial 
career — certainly, the one showing the deepest political 
research, the profoundest philosophy, and the most tho- 
rough and unselfish patriotism, was that delivered on the 
21th of July, 18(U. It was on the joint resolution ap- 
proving certain acts of the President for suppressing 
insurrection and rebellion. The resolution finally passed, 
and as a precedent, it will be a warning to all who aim at 
rebellion in future, that salus respuhlica suprema lex. 
We regard Mr. Johnson's masterly oration as so grand 
and conclusive that, in spite of its length, we quote it 
in full : 

SPEECH OF ANDREW JOHNSON, ON THE RE- 
SOLUTION APPROVING CERTAIN ACTS OF 
THE PRESIDENT FOR SUPPRESSING REBEL- 
LION. 

The Senate having under consideration the joint reso- 
lution to approve and confirm certain acts of the Presi- 
dent of the United States for suppressing insurrection 
and rebellion, Mr. Johnson, of Tennessee, said : 

Mr. President : — When I came from my home to the seat 
of Government, in compliance with the proclamation of 
the President of the United States calling us together in 
extra session, it was not my intention to engage in any 
of the discussions that might transpire in this body ; but 
since the session began, in consequence of the course 
which things have taken, I feel unwilling to allow the 
Senate to adjourn without saying a few words in response 
to many things that have been submitted to the Senate 
since its session commenced. What little I shall say to- 
day will be without much method Or order. I shall pre- 
sent the suggestions that occur to my mind, and shall 
endeavor to speak of the condition of the country as it is. 

On returning here, we find ourselves, as we were when 
we adjourned last spring, in the midst of a civil war. 
That war is now progressing, without much hope or 
prospect of a speedy termination. It seems to me, Mr. 



LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDEEW JOHNSON. 41 

President, that our Government has reached one of three 
periods through which all Governments must pass. A 
nation, or a people, have first to pass through a fierce 
ordeal in obtaining their independence or separation from 
the Government to which they were attached. In some 
instances this is a severe ordeal. We passed through 
such a one in the Revolution ; we were seven years in 
efl'ecting the separation, and in taking our position among 
the nations of the earth as a separate and distinct power. 
Then, after having succeeded in establishing its indepen- 
dence, and taken its position among the nations of the 
earth, a nation must show its ability to maintain that 
position, that separate and distinct independence, against 
other powers, against foreign foes. In 1812, in the his- 
tory of our Government, this ordeal commenced, and ter- 
minated in 1815. 

There is still another trial through which a nation must 
pass. It has to contend against internal foes, against 
enemies at home ; against those who have no confidence 
in its integrity, or in the institutions established under its 
organic law. We are in the midst of this third ordeal, 
and the problem now being solved before the nations of 
the earth, and before the people of the United States, is 
whether we can succeed in maintaining ourselves against 
the internal foes of the Government ; whether we can 
succeed in putting down traitors and treason, and in 
establishing the great fact that we have a Government 
with sufficient strength to maintain its existence against 
whatever combination may be presented in opposition 
to it. 

This brings me to a proposition laid down by the 
Executive in his recent message to the Congress of the 
United States. In that message the President said : 

" This is essentially a people's contest. On the side of 
the Union, it is a struggle for maintaining in the world 
that form and substance of government, whose leading 
object is to elevate the condition of men ; to lift artificial 
weights from all shoulders ; to clear the paths of laudable 
pursuit for all; to afford all an unfettered start, and a fair 
chance in the race of life. Yielding to partial and tempo- 
rary departures, from necessity, this is the leading object 
of the Government for whose existence we contend." 

I think the question is fairly and properly stated by 



42 LIFE AXD SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON". 

the President, that it is a struggle whether the people 
shall rule ; whether the people shall have a Government 
based upon their intelligence, upon their integrity, upon 
their purity of character, sufficient to govern themselves. 
I think this is the true issue ; and the time has now 
arrived when the energies of the nation must be put forth, 
when there must be union and concert on the part of all 
" those v/ho agree in man's capability of self-government, 
without regard to their former divisions or party prejtidices, 
in order to demonstrate that great proposition. 

Since this discussion commenced, it has been urged 
and argued, by Senators on one side, that there was a 
disposition to change the nature and character of the 
Government, and that, if we proceed as we are going, it 
w^ould result in establishing a dictatorship. It has been 
said that the whole frame-work, nature, genius, and 
character of the Government w^ould be entirely changed ; 
and great apprehensions have been thrown out that it 
would result in a consolidation of the Government, or a 
dictatorship. We find, in the speech delivered by the 
distinguished Senator from Kentucky (Mr. Breckinridge) 
the other day, the following paragraph, alluding to what 
will be the effect of the passage of this joint resolution 
approving the action of the President : 

"Here in Washington, in Kentucky, in Missouri, 
everywhere where the authority of the President extends, 
in his discretion he will feel himself warranted, by the 
action of Congress upon this resolution, to subordinate 
the civil to the military power; to imprison citizens with- 
out warrant of law ; to suspend the writ of habeas corpus ; 
to establish martial law ; to make seizures and searches 
without warrant; to suppress the press; to do all those 
acts which rest in the will and in the authority of a 
military commander. In my judgment, sir, if we pass it, 
w^e are upon the eve of putting, so far as we can, in the 
hands of the President of the United States the power of 
a dictator." 

Then, in reply to the Senator from Oregon, (Mr. Baker,) 
he seems to have great apprehension of a radical change in 
our form of government. The Senator goes on to say : 

" The pregnant question, Mr. President, for us to 
decide is, whether the Constitution is to be respected in 
this struggle ; whether we are to be called upon to follow 



LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 43 

the flag over the ruins of the Constitution ? Without 
questioning' the motives of any, I believe that the whole 
tendency of the present proceedings is to establish a 
government without limitation of powers, and to change 
radically our frame and character of governmejit." 

Sir, I most fully concur with the Senator that there is 
a great effort being made to change the nature and 
character of our Government. I think that effort is being 
demonstrated and manifested most clearly every day ; but 
we differ as to the parties making this great effort. 

The Senator alludes, in his speech, to a conversation 
he had with some very intelligent gentlemen who formerly 
represented our country abroad. It appears from that 
conversation that foreigners were accustomed to say to 
Americans, ''I thought your Government existed by con- 
sent ; now how is it to exist ?" and the reply was, " We 
intend to change it ; we intend to adapt it to our con- 
dition ; these old colonial geographical divisions and 
States will ultimately be rubbed out, and we shall have 
a Government strong and powerful enough." The 
Senator seemed to have great a})preliensions based on 
those conversations. He read a paragraph from a paper 
indicating that State lines were to be rubbed out. In 
addition to all this, he goes on to state that the writ of 
habeas corpus has been violated, and he says that since 
the Government commenced, there has not been a case 
equal to the one which has recently transpired in Mary- 
land. I shall take up some of his points in their order, 
and speak of them as I think they deserve to be spoken 
of. The Senator says : 

" The civil authorities of the country are paralyzed, 
and a practical martial law is being established all over 
the land. The like never lKipj)ened in this country before, 
and would not be tolerated in any country in Europe 
which pretends to -the elements of civilization and regu- 
lated liberty. George Washington carried the thirteen 
colonies through the war of the Revolution without 
martial law. The President of the United States cannot 
conduct the Government three mouths without resorting 
to it." 

The Senator puts great stress on the point, and 
speaks of it in very emphatic language, that General 
Washington carried the country through the seven years 



44 LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHxYSON". 

of tlie Revolution without resorting; to martial law during 
all that period of time. Now, how does the matter 
stand ? When we come to examine the history of the 
country, it would seem that the Senator had not hunted 
up all the cases. We can find some, and one in particular, 
not very different from the case which has recently 
occurred, and to which he alluded. In ITtt, the second 
year of the war of the Revolution, members of the society 
of Friends in Philadelphia were arrbsted on suspicion of 
beino; disaffected to the cause of American Freedom. A 
publication now before me says : 

" The persons arrested, to the number of twenty," * * 
* * * " were taken into custody by military force, at 
their homes or usual places of business ; many of them 
could not obtain any knowledge of the cause of their 
arrest, or of any one to whom they were amenable, and 
they could only hope to avail themselves of the interven- 
tion of some civil authority, 

"The Executive Council, of the State of Pennsylvania, 
being formed of residents of the city and county of Phila- 
delphia, had a better knowledge of the Society of Friends 
and of their individual characters than the members of 
Congress assembled from the various parts of the country, 
and ought to have protected them. But instead of this, 
they caused these arrests of their fellow-citizens to be 
made with unrelenting severity, and from the 1st to the 
4th day of September, 1Y7Y, the party was taken into 
confinement in the Mason's Lodge in Philadelphia. 

" On the minutes of Congress of 3d September, 1*7*1 7, it 
appears that a letter was received by them fiom George 
Bryan, Yice President of the Supreme Executive Council, 
dated 2d September, stating that arrests had been made 
of persons inimical to the American States, and desiring 
the advice of Congress particularly whether Augusta and 
Winchester, in Virginia, would not be proper places at 
which to secure prisoners." * * * 

" Congress must have been aware that it wns ])ecoming 
a case of very unjust suffering, for they passed their reso- 
lution of 6th September, 1T7T, as follows: 

" * That it be recommended to the Supreme Executive 
Council of the State of Pennsylvania to hear what the 
said remonstrants can allege to remove the suspicions of 
their being disaffected or dangerous to the United States ' 



LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 45 

" But the Supreme Executive Council, on the same 
day, referring to the above, 

" ' Besolved, That the President do wvlie to Congress 
to let them know that the Council has not time to attend 
to that business in the present alarming crisis, and that 
they were agreeably to the recommendation of Congress, 
at the moment the resolve was brought into Council, dis- 
posing of every thing for the departure of the prisoners.' 

" As the recommendation of Congress of the 6th ot 
September to give the prisoners a hearing was refused by 
the Supreme Executive Council, the next minute made by 
Congress was as follows : 

" 'In Congress, 8tli September, lYTT. 

" ' Resolved, That it would be improper for Congress to 
enter into a hearing of the remonstrants or other prison- 
ers in the Mason's Lodge, they being inhabitants of Penn- 
sylvania; and therefore, as the Council declines giving 
tiiem a hearing for the reasons assigned in their letter to 
Congress, that it be recommended to said Council to order 
the immediate departure of such of said prisoners as yet 
refuse to swear or alfu'in allegiance to the State of Penn- 
sylvania, to Staunton, in Virginia.' 

" The remonstrances made to Congress, and to the Su- 
preme Executive Council being unavailing, the parties 
arrested were ordered to depart for Virginia on the 11th 
September, ITYt, when, as their last resource, they applied 
under the laws of Pennsylvania, to be brought before the 
judicial courts by writs of habeas corpus. 

"The departure of the prisoners was committed to the 
care of Colonel Jacob Morgan, of Bucks county, and they 
were guarded by six of the light-horse, commanded by 
Alexander Nesbitt and Samuel Caldwell, who were to 
obey the despatches from the Board of War, of which Gen- 
eral Horatio Gates was president, directed to the lieuten- 
ants of the counties through which the prisoners were to 
pass. 

" The writs of habeas corpus, on being presented to the 
Chief Justice, were marked by him, 'Allowed by Thomas 
McKean,' and they were served on the officers who had 
the prisoners in custody, when they had been taken on 
their journey as far as Reading, Pennsylvania, on the 



46 LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 

14th day of September, but the officers refused to obey 
them. 

" It appears by the journal of the Supreme Executive 
Council of the 16th of September, that Alexander Nes- 
bitt, one of the officers, had previously obtain^.-d informa- 
tion about the writs, and made a report of them ; when 
the Pennsylvania Legislature, at the instance of the Su- 
preme Executive Council, passed a law, on the 16th of 
September, ItTt, to suspend tlie habeas corpus act; and 
although it was an ex jdusL facio law, as it related to their 
case, the Supreme Executive Council on that day ordered 
the same to be carried into elTect." 

Continuing the history of this case, we find that 

*' The party consisted of twenty persons, of whom sev- 
enteen were members of the Society of Friends. They 
were ordered first to Staunton, then a frontier town in 
the western settlement of Virginia, but afterward to be 
detained at AYinchester,. where they were kept in partial 
confinement nearly eight months, without provision being 
made for their support ; for the only reference to this 
was by a resolution of llie Supreme Executive Council of 
Pennsylvania, dated April 8, 1778, as follows : 

^^ ^ Ordered, That the whole expenses of arresting and 
confining the prisoners sent to Virginia, the expenses of 
their journey, and all other incidental charges, be paid by 
the said prisoners.' 

"During the stay of the exiles at Winchester, nearly 
all of them suffered greatly from circumstances unavoid- 
able in their situation — from anxiety, separation from their 
families, left unprotected in Philadelphia, then a besieged 
city, liable at any time to be starved out or taken by as- 
sault ; while from sickness and exposure during the winter 
season, in accommodations entirely unsuitable for them, 
two of their number departed this life in the month of 
March, 1778." 

Thus, j\Ir. President, we find that the writ of habeas 
corpus was sus[)ended by the authorities of Penns3dvania 
during the Revolution, in the case of persons who were 
considered dangerous and inimical to the country. A 
writ was taken out and served upon the officers, and 
they refused to surrender the prisoners, or even to give 
them a hearing. If the Senator from Kentucky had de- 
sired au extreme case and wished to make a display of 



LIFE AXD SERVICES OF AXDRP^W JOHNSON. 47 

liis legal and liistorical information, it would have been 
very easy for him to have cited this case — much more 
aggravated, much more extravagant, much more striking, 
than the one in regard to vv^hich he was speaking. Let it 
be remembered, also, that this case, although it seems to be 
an extravagant and striking one, occurred during the war 
of the Revolution, under General Washington, before we 
had a President. We find that at tliat time the writ of 
habeas corpus was suspended, and twenty individuals were 
denied even the privilege of a hearing, because they were 
considered inimical and dangerous to the liberties of the 
country. In the midst of the Kevolution, when the writ 
of habeas corpus was as well understood as it is now, 
when they were familiar with its operation in Great Brit- 
ain, when they knew and understood all the rights and 
privileges it granted to the citizen, we find that the Legis- 
lature of Pennsylvania passed a law repealing the power 
to issue the writ of habeas corpus, and went back and 
relieved the ollicers wiio refused to obey the writs, and 
indemnified them from the operation of any wrong they 
might have done. If the Senator wanted a strong and 
striking case, one that would bear comment, why did he 
not go back to this case, that occurred in the Revolution, 
during the very period referred to by him ? But no ; all 
these cases seem to have been forgotten, and the mind was 
fixed down upon a case of recent occurrence. There is a 
great similarity in the (!ases. The one to which I have 
alluded, however, is a much stronger case than that re- 
ferred to by the Senator. It was in Philadelphia where 
Congress was sitting; it was in Pennsylvania where these 
])ersons, who were considei'ed inimical to the freedom of 
the countr}^ were found. Congress was appealed to, but 
Congress executed tlie order ; and the Legislature of 
Pennsylvania, after it was executed, tliough it was in vio- 
lation of the right to the writ of habeas corpus, passed a 
law indemnifying the persons that had violated it, and 
made it retrospective in its ojteration. ^Vhat is our case 
now ? ^Ve are not struggling for the establishment of 
our nationality, but we are now struggling for the exist- 
ence of the Government. Suppose the writ of habeas 
corpus has been suspended; the question arises whether 
it was not a justifiable suspension at the time ; and ough'^ 
we not now to endorse simply what we would have done 
3 



48 LIFE AND SlCllVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 

if we had been here ourselves at the time the power was 
exercised ? 

The impression is sought to be made on the public 
mind, that this is the hrst and only case where the power 
has been exercised. I have shown that there is one ten- 
fold more striking, that occurred during our struggle for 
independence. Is this the first time that persons in the 
United States have been placed under martial law ? In 
1815, when New Orleans was about to be sacked, when a 
foreign foe was upon the soil of Louisiana, New Orleans 
was put under martial law, and Judge Hall was made a 
prisoner because he attempted to interpose. Is there a 
man here, or in the country, who condemns General 
Jackson for the exercise of the power of proclaiming 
martial law in 1815 ? Could that city have been saved 
without placing it under martial law, and making Judge 
Hall subniit to it? 1 know that General Jackson sub- 
mitted to be arrested, tried, and fined $1,000; but what 
did Congress do in that case ? It did just what we are 
called on to do in this case. By the restoration of his 
fine — an act passed by an overwhelming majority in the 
two Houses of Congress — the nation said, " We approve 
what you did." Suppose Mr. President, (and it may have 
been the case,) that the existence of the Government 
depended upon the protection and successful defence of 
New Orleans; and suppose, too, it was in violation of the 
strict letter of the Constitution for General Jackson to 
place New Orleans under martial law, but without placing 
it under martial law the Government would have been 
overthrown : is there any reasonable, any intelligent man, 
in or out of Congress, who would not endorse and acknow- 
ledge the exercise of a power which was indispensable to 
the existence and maintenance of the Government ? The 
Constitution was likely to be overthrown, the law was 
about to be violated, and the Government trampled under 
foot ; and when it becomes necessary to prevent this, even 
by exercising a power that comes in conflict with the Con- 
stitution in time of peace, it should and ought to be exer- 
cised. If General Jackson had lost the city of l>lew 
Orleans, and the Government had been overthrown by a 
refusal on his part to place Judge Hall and the city of 
New Orleans under martial law, he ought to have lost his 
head. But he acted as a soldier ; he acted as a patriot ; 



LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDEEW JOHNSON. 49 

he acted as a statesman ; as one devoted to the institutions 
and the preservation and the existence of his Government ; 
and the grateful homage of a nation w^as his reward. 

Then, sir, the power which has been exercised in this 
instance is no new thing. In great emergencies, when the 
life of a nation is in peril, when its very existence is 
flickering, to question too nicely, to scan too critically, its 
acts in the very midst of that crisis, when the Government 
is likely to be overthrown, is to make war upon it, and to 
try to paralyze its energies. If war is to be made upon 
those who seem to violate the laws of the United States 
in their efforts to preserve the Government, wait until the 
country passes out of its peril ; wait until the country is 
relieved from its difficulty ; wait until the crisis passes by, 
and then come forward, dispassionately, and ascertain to 
what extent the law has been violated, if, indeed, it has 
been violated at all, 

A great ado has been made in reference to the Execu- 
tive proclamation calling out the militia of the States to 
the extent of seventy-five thousand men. That call was 
made under the authority of the act of 1795, and is 
perfectly in accordance with the law. It has been decided 
by the Su})reme Court of the United States that that act 
is constitutional, and that the President alone is the judge 
of the question whether the exigency has arisen. This 
decision was made in the celebrated case of Martin agt. 
Mott. The opinion of the Court was delivered by Judge 
Story. Let me read from the opinion of the Court : 

"It has not been denied here that the act of 1795 is 
within the constitutional authority of Congress, or that 
Congress may not lawfully provide for cases of imminent 
danger of invasion, as well as for cases where an invasion 
has actually taken place. In our opinion there is no 
ground for a doubt on this point, even if it had been relied 
on ; for the power to provide for repelling invasion 
includes the power to provide against the attempt and 
danger of invasion, as the necessary and proper means to 
effectuate the object. One of the best means to repel 
invasion is to provide the requisite force for action before 
the invader himself has reached the soil. 

" The power thus confided by Congress to the President 
is, doubtless, of a very high and delicate nature. A free 
people are naturally jealous of the exercise of military 



50 LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 

power ; and the power to call the militia into actual 
service is certainly felt to be one of no ordinary magni- 
tude. But it is not a power which can be executed with- 
out a corresponding responsibility. It is, in its terms, a 
limited power, confined to cases of actual invasion, or of 
imminent danger of invasion. If it be a limited power, 
the question arises, by whom is the exigency to be judged 
of and decided ? Is the President the sole and exclusive 
judge whether the exigency has arisen, or is it to be con- 
sidered as an open question, upon which every officer, to 
whom the orders of the President are addressed, may decide 
for himself, and equally open to be contested by every militia- 
man who shall refuse to obey the orders of the President ? 
We are all of opinion that the authority to decide whether 
the exigency has arisen belongs exclusively to the President, 
and that his decision is conclusive upon all other persons. 
We think that this construction necessarily results from the 
nature of the power itself, and from the manifest object 
contemplated by the act of Congress. The power itself 
Is to be exercised upon sudden emergencies, upon great 
occasions of state, and under circumstances which may 
be vital to the existence of the Union. A prompt and 
unhesitating obedience to orders is indispensable to the 
complete attainment of the object. The service is a mili- 
tary service, and the command of a militarj^ nature ; and 
in such cases every delay and every obstacle to an 
efficient and immediate compliance necessarily tend to 
jeopard the public interests." — Martin vs. Mott, 12 Whea- 
ton^s Reports, p. 29. 

We see, then, that the power is clear as to calling out 
the militia ; we see that we have precedents for the suspen- 
sion of the writ of habeas corpus. 

The next objection made is that the President had no 
power to make additions to the navy and army. I sa\^, in 
these two instances, he is justified by the great law of 
necessity. At the time I believe it was necessary to the 
existence of the Grovernment; and, it being necessary, he 
had a right to exercise all those powers, that, in his judg- 
ment, the crisis demanded for the maintenance of the exist- 
ence of the Government itself. The simple question — if 
you condemn the President for acting in the absence of 
law — is. Do you condemn the propriety of his course ; do 
you condemn the increase of the army ? Do you condemn 



LIFE AND SEKVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 51 

the increase of the navy? If you oppose the measure simply 
upon the ground that the Executive called them forth antici- 
pating^ law, whnt will you do now ? The question presents 
itself at this time, Is it not necessary to increase the army 
and the navy ? If you condemn the exercise of the power of 
the Executive in the absence of law, what will you do now, 
as the law-making power, when it is manifest that the 
army and the navy should be increased ? You may make war 
upon the Executive for anticipating the action of Congress. 
What do gentlemen do now, when called upon to support 
the Government ? Do they do it ? They say the Presi- 
dent antici|)ated the action of Congress. Does not tho 
Government need an increase of the army and the navy ? 
Where do gentlemen stand now? Are they for it? Do 
they sustain the Government ? Are they giving it a help- 
ing hand ? No : they go back and find fault with the 
exercise of a power that they say is without law ; but now, 
when they have the power to make the law, and when the 
necessity is apparent, they stand back and refuse. Wliere 
does that place those who take that course ? It places them 
against the Government, and against placing the means in 
the hands of the Government to defend and perpetuate its 
existence. The object is apparent, Mr. President. We 
had enemies of the Government here last winter; in my 
opinion we have enemies of the Government here now. 

I said that I agreed with the Senator from Kentucky 
that there was a design — a deliberate determination — to 
change the nature and character of our Government. Yes 
sir, it has been the design for a long time. All the talk 
about slavery and compromise has been but a pretext. 
We had a long disquisition, and a very feeling one, from 
the Senator from Kentucky. He became pathetic in the 
ho[)elessness of compromises. Did not the Senator from 
California, [Mr. Latham,] the other day, show unmistak- 
ably that it was not compromise they wanted ? I will add 
that compromise was the thing they most feared ; and 
their great effort was to get out of Congress before any 
compromise could be made. At first their cry was peace- 
able secession and reconstruction. They talked not of 
compromise ; and, I repeat, their greatest dread and fear 
was that something would be agreed upon ; that their last 
and onl}^ pretext would be swept from under them, and 
that they would stand before the country naked andexposed. 



52 LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 

The Senator from California pointed out to you a num- 
ber of them who stood here and did not vote for certain 
propositions, and those propositions were lost. What was 
the action before the Committee of Thirteen ? Why did 
not that committee agree ? Some of the most ultra men 
from the North were members of that committee, and they 
proposed to amend the Constitution so as to provide that 
Congress in the future never should interfere with the 
subject of slavery. The Committee failed to agree, and 
some of its members at once telegraphed to their States, 
that they must go out of the Union at once. But after all 
that transpired in the early part of the session, what was 
done ? We know what the argument has been ; in times 
gone by I met it; I have heard it again and again. It 
has been said that one great object was, first to abolish 
slavery in the District of Columbia and the slave trade 
between the States, as a kind of initiative measure ; next, 
to exclude it from the Territories ; and when the free 
States constituted three-fourths of all the States, so as to 
have power to change the Constitution, they would amend 
the Constitution, so as to give Congress power to legislate 
upon the subject of slavery in the States, and expel it from 
the States in which it is now. Has not that been the 
argument ? Now, how does the matter stand ? At the 
last session of Congress seven States withdrew — it may be 
said that eicrht withdrew : reducing the remaininir slave 
States down to one-fourth of the whole number of States. 
The charge has been made, that whenever the free States 
constituted a majority in the Congress of the United States, 
sufficient to amend the Constitution, they would so amend 
it as to legislate upon the institution of slavery within the 
States, and that the institution of slavery would be over- 
thrown. This has been the argument ; it has been repeat- 
ed again and again ; and hence the great struggle about 
the Territories. The argument was, we wanted to prevent 
the creation of free States ; we did not want to be reduced 
clown to that point where, under the sixth article of the 
Constitution, three-fourths could amend the Constitution 
so as to exclude slavery from the States. This has been 
the great point ; this has been the rampart ; this has been 
the very point to which it has bcim urged that the free 
States wanted to ])ass. Now, how does the fact stand ? 
Let us " render unto Ciesar the things that are Cassar's.'^ 



LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 53 

We reached, at the last session, just the point where we 
were in the power of the free States ; and then what was 
done ? Instead of an amendment to the Constitution of 
the United States, conferring power upon Congress to 
legislate upon the subject of slavery, what was done ? 
This joint resolution was passed by a two-thirds majority 
in each House. 

" Besolved by the Senate and House of Representatives 
of the United States of America, in Congress assembled, 
That the following article be proposed to the Legislatures 
of the sev^eral States, as an amendment to the Constitution 
of the United States, which, when ratified by three-fourths 
of said Legislatures, shall be valid, to all intents and pur- 
poses, as part of the said Constitution, viz : 

'' Art. 13. No amendment shall be made to the Con- 
stitution which will authorize or give to Congress the power 
to abolish, or interfere, within any State, with the domes- 
tic institutions thereof, including that of persons held to 
service or labor by the laws of said State." 

Ls not that very conclusive ? Here is an amendment to 
the Constitution of the United States to make the Consti- 
tution unamendable upon that subject, as it is upon some 
other subjects ; that Congress, in the future, should have 
no power to legislate on the subject of slavery within the 
States. Talk about "compromise," and about the settle- 
ment of this question ; how can you settle it more substan- 
tially ? How can you get a guarantee that is more binding 
than such an amendment to the Constitution ? This 
places the institution of slavery in the States entirely 
beyond the control of Congress. Why have not the 
Legislatures that talk about "reconstruction" and " com- 
promise" and " guaranties" taken up this amondment to 
the Constitution and adopted it ? Some States have 
adopted it. How many Southern States have done so ? 
Take my own State, for instance. Instead of accepting 
guarantees, protecting them in all future time against the 
legislation of Congress on the subject of slavery, they un- 
dertake to pass ordinances violating the Constitution of 
the country, and taking the State out of the Union and 
into the Southern Confederacy. It is evident to me that 
with many the talk about compromise and the settlement 
of this question is mere pretext, especially with those who 
understand the question. 



54 LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 

What more was clone at the last session of Congress, 
when the North had the power ? Let us tell tlie truth. 
Three territorial bills were brought forward and passed. 
You remember in 1841, when the agitation arose in refer- 
ence to the Wilmot proviso. You remember in 1850 the 
contest about slavery prohibition in the territories. You 
remember in 1854 the excitement in reference to the 
Kansas-Nebraska bill, and the power conferred on the 
Legislature by it. Now we have a constitutional amend- 
ment, proposed at a time when the Republicans have 
the power ; and at the same time they come forward with 
three territorial bills, and in neither of those bills can be 
found any prohibition, so far as slavery is concerned in 
the territories. Colorado, Nevada, and Dacotah are or- 
ganized without any prohibition of slavery. But what 
do you find in these bills ? Mark, Mr. President, that 
there is no slavery prohibition ; mark, too, the language 
of the sixth section, conferring power upon the territorial 
Legislature : 

" Sec 6. And be it further enacted, That the Legislative 
power of the Territory shall extend to all rightful sub- 
jects of legislation consistent with the Constitution of the 
ITnited States and the provisions of tin's act ; but no law 
shall be passed interfering with the primary disposal of 
the soil ; no tax shall be imposed upon the property of 
the United States; nor shall the lands or other property 
of non-residents be taxed higher than the lands or other 
property of residents ; nor shall any law be passed im- 
pairing the rights of private property; nor shall any dis- 
crimination be made in taxing dilferent kinds of property ; 
})ut all property subject to taxation shall be in propor- 
tion to the value of the property taxed." 

Can there be any thing more clear and conclusive ? 
First, there is no prohibition ; next, the Legislature shall 
have no power to legislate so as to impair the rights of pri- 
vate property, and shall not tax one description of property 
higher than another. Now, Mr, President, right here I 
ask any reasonable, intelligent man throughout the Union, 
to take the amendment to the Constitution, take the three 
territorial bills, put them all together, and how much of 
the slavery question is left ? Is there any of it left ? Yet 
we hear talk about compromise ; and it is said the Union 
must be broken because you cannot get compromise. Does 



LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 55 

not this settle the whole question? There is no slavery 
prohibition by Congress, and the Territorial Legislatures 
are expressly forbidden from legislating so as to impair the 
rights of property, I know there are some who are sin- 
cere in this talk about compromise ; but there are others 
who are merely making it a pretext, who come here 
claiming something in the hope that it will be refused, 
and that then, upon that refusal, their States may be car- 
ried out of the Union. I should like to know how much 
more secure we can be in regard to this question of 
slavery. These three territorial bills cover every square 
inch of territor}^ we have got; and here is an amendment 
to the Constitution embracing the whole question, so far 
as the States and the public lands of the United States are 
concerned. 

I am as much for compromise as any one can be ; and 
there is no ono who would desire more than myself to see 
peace and prosperity restored to 'the land ; but wdien we 
look at the condition of the country, we find that rebellion 
is rife ; that treason has reared its head. A distinguished 
Senator from Georgia once said, "When traitors become 
numerous enough, treason becomes respectable." Traitors 
are getting to be so numerous now that I suppose treason 
has almost got to be respectable ; but God being wil- 
ling, whether traitors be many or few, as I have hitherto 
waged war against traitors and treason, and in behalf of 
the Government which was constructed by our fathers, I 
intend to continue it to the end. {Ai^plaune in the gal- 
leries. ) 

The President pro tempore — Order. 

Mr. Johnson, of Tennessee — Mr. President, we are in 
the midst of a civil war ; blood has been shed ; life has 
been sacrificed. Who commenced it ? Of that we will 
speak hereafter. I am speaking now of the talk about 
compromise. Traitors and rebels are standing with arms 
in their hands, and it is said that we must go forward and 
compromise with them. They are in the wrong ; they 
are making war upon the Government ; they are trying 
to upturn and destroy our free institutions. I say to 
them that the compromise I have to make under the exist- 
ing circumstances is, " ground your arms ; obey the laws ; 
acknowledge the supremacy of the Constitution — when 
you do that, I wall talk to you about compromises." All 



56 LIFE AXD SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 

the compromise that I have to make is the coaipromise of 
the Constitution of the United States. It is one of the 
best compromises that can be made. We lived under it 
from 1789 down to the 20th of December, 1860, Avhen 
South Carolina undertook to go out of the Union. We 
prospered ; we advanced in wealth, in commerce, in agri- 
culture, in trade, in manufactures, in all the arts and sci- 
ences, and in religion, more than any people upon the 
face of God's earth had ever done before in the same time. 
What better compromise do3'ou want ? You lived under 
it till you got to be a great and prosperous people. It 
was made by our fathers, and cemented by their blood. 
When you talk to me about com])romise, I hold up to you 
the Constitution under which you derived all your great- 
ness, and whicli was made by the fathers of your country. 
It will protect you in all your rights. 

But it is said that we had better divide the country and 
make a treaty and restore ]ieace. If, under the C<)nstitu- 
tion which was framed by Washington and Madison and 
the patriots of the Revolution, we cannot live as broth- 
ers, as we have in times gone by, I ask can we live quietly 
under a treaty, scparotcul as enemies ? The same causes 
will exist; our geogra[)hical and physical position will 
remain just the same. Suppose you make a treaty of 
peace and division ; if the same causes of irritation, if the 
same causes of division continue to exist, and we cannot 
live as brothers in fratcrnit}^ under the Constitution made 
by our fathers, and as friends in the same Government, 
how can we live in peace as aliens and enemies under a 
treaty ? It cannot be done ; it is impracticable. 

But, Mr. President, I concur full v with the distinguished 
Senator from Kentucky in the dislike expressed by him to 
a change in the form of Government. lie seemed to be 
apprehensive of a dictatorship. He feared there might be 
a change in the nature and character of our institutions. 
I could, if I chose, refer to many proofs to establish the 
fact that there has been a design to change the nature of 
our Government. I could refer to Mr. Rhett ; I could 
refer to Mr. Inglis; I could refer to various others to 
prove this. The Montgomery Daily AdveriUer, one of 
the organs of the so-called Southern Confederacy, says : 

" Has it been a precipitate revolution ? It has not. 
With coolness and deliberation the sul)ject has been 



LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 57 

thought of for forty years ; for ten years it has been the 
all-absorbing theme in political circles. From Maine to 
Mexico all the different phases and forms of the question 
have been presented to the people, until nothing else was 
thought of, nothing else spoken of, and nothing else 
taught in many of the political schools." 

This, in connection with other things, shows that this 
movement has been long contemplated, and that the idea 
has been to separate from and break up this Government, 
to change its nature and character; and now, after they 
have attempted the separation, if they can succeed, their 
intention is to subjugate and overthrow and make the 
other States submit to their form of government. 

To carry out the idea of the Senator from Kentucky, I 
want to show that there is conclusive proof of a design 
to change our Government, 

I quote from the Georgia Chronicle : 

" Our own republican Government has failed midway 
in its trial, and with it have nearly vanished the hopes of 
those philanthropists who, believing in man's capacity for 
self-government, believed, therefore, in spite of so many 
failures, in the practicability of a republic." 

"If this Government has gone down," asks the editor, 
" what shall be its substitute ?" And he answers by say- 
ing that, as to the present generation, " it seems their only 
resort must be to a constitutional monarchy." Hence you 
see the Senator and myself begin to agree in the proposi- 
tion that the nature and character of the Government are 
to be changed. 

William Howard Russell, the celebrated correspondent 
of The London Times, spent some time in South Carolina, 
and he writes : 

" From all quarters have come to ray ears the echoes of 
the same voice ; it may be feigned, but there is no discord 
in the note, and it sounds in wonderful strength and mo- 
notony all over the country. Shades of George III., of 
North, of Johnson, all of whom contended against the great 
rebellion which tore these colonies from England, can you 
hear the chorus which rings through the State of Marion, 
Sumter, and Pinckney, and not clap your ghostly hands 
in triumph ? That voice says, ' If we could only get one 
of the royal race of England to rule over us, we should be 



58 LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 

content !' Let there be no misconception on this point. 
That sentiment, varied in a hundred ways, has been re- 
peated to me over and over again. There is a general ad- 
mission that the means to such an end are wanting, and 
that the desire cannot be gratified. But the admiration 
for monarchical institutions on the English model, for 
privileged classes, and for a landed aristocracy and gentry, 
is undisguised and apparently genuine. With the pride of 
having achieved their independence, is mingled in the 
South Carolinian's heart a strange regret at the result and 
consec|uences, and many are they who 'would go back to- 
morrow, if we could.' An intense affection for the British 
connection, a love of British habits and customs, a respect 
for British sentiment, law, authority, order, civilization, 
and literature, preeminently distinguish the inhabitants of 
this State," &c. 

This idea was not confined to localities. It was exten- 
sively prevalent, though policy prompted its occasional 
repudiation. At a meeting of the people of Bibb County, 
Georgia, the subject was discussed, and a constitutional 
monarchy was not recommended for the Southern States, 
"as recommended by some of the advocates of immediate 
disunion." Here is evidence that the public mind had 
been sought to be influenced in that direction ; but the 
people were not prepared for it. Mr. Toombs, of Georgia, 
during the delivery of a speech by Mr. A. H. Stephens, 
before the Legislature of that State, did not hesitate to 
prefer the form of the British Government to our own. 

Not long since — some time in the month of May — I 
read in The Richmond Whig, published at the place where 
their Government is now operating, the centre from which 
they are directing their armies, which are making war 
upon this Government, an article in which it is stated that, 
rather than submit to the Administration now in power in 
the City of Washington, they would prefer passingunderthe 
constitutional reign of the amiable Queen of Great Britain. 
I agree, therefore, with the Senator from Kentucky, that 
there is a desire to change this Government. We see it 
emanating from every point in the South. Mr. Toombs 
was not willing to wait for the movement of the people. 
Mr. Stephens, in his speech to the Legislature of Georgia., 
preferred the calling of a Convention ; but Mr. Toombs wa» 
unwilling to wait. Mr. StepheJis was unwilling to see d^ny 



LIFE AXD SE]IVIC;:S OF AXI)]^i^:\V JOHNSON. 59 

violent action in nd\ anro of f.jo action of tiio people ; but 
Mr. Toombs replied : "1 will not wait; I will take the sword 
in my own band, disregardino^ the will of the people, even 
in the shape of a Convention," and history will record that 
he kept his word, lie and others liad become tired and 
dissatisfied with a government of the people ; they have 
lost confidence in man's capacity for self-government ; and 
furthermore, they would be willing to form an alliance with 
Great Britain ; or, if Great Britain were slow in forming 
the alliance, v^nth France ; and they know they can succeed 
there, on account of the hate and malignity which exist 
between the two nations. They would be willing to pass 
under the reign of the amiable and constitutional Queen of 
Great Britain ! Sir, I love woman, and woman's reign in 
the right place ; but when we talk about the amiable and 
accomplished Queen of Great Britain, I must say that all 
our women are laddies, all are queens, all are equal to Queen 
Victoria, and many of them greatly her su|)eriors. They 
desire no such thing ; nor do we. Hence we see whither 
this movement is tending. It is a eliango of government ; 
and in that the Senator and myself most fully concur. 

The Senator from Kentucky was wonderfully alarmed 
at the idea of a "dictator," and replied with as much 
point as possible to the Senator from Oregon, who made 
the suggestion. But, sir, what do we find in 11)6 
JRichmond Examiner, published at the seat of govern- 
ment of the so-called Confederate States ? 

"In the late debates of the Congress of this Con- 
federacy, Mr. Wright, of Georgia, showed a true appre- 
ciation of the crisis when he advocated the grant of power 
to the President, that would enable him to make imme- 
diate defence of Richmond, and to bring the whole force 
of the Confederacy to bear on the affairs of Virginia. It 
is here that the fate of the C(jnfederacy is to be decided ; 
and the time is too short to permit red tape to interfere 
with public safety. No power in executive hands can be 
too great, no discretion too al>solute, at such moments as 
these. We need a dictator. Let lawyers talk when the 
world has time to hear them. Now let the sword do its 
work. Usurpations of power by the chief, for the preser- 
vation of the people from robbers and murderers, will be 
reckoned as genius and patriotism by all sensible men in 



60 LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 

the world, now, and by every historian that will judge 
the deed hereafter." 

The articles of their leading papers. The Whig and The 
Examiner, and the speeches of their leading men — all 
show unmistakably that their great object is to change 
the character of the Government. Hence we come back 
to the proposition that it is a contest whether the people 
shall govern or not. I have here an article that appeared 
in The Memphis Bulletin, of my own State, from which 
it appears that under this reign of Secession, this reign 
of terror, this disintegrating element that is destructivr 
of all good, and the acomplisher of nothing that is right 
they have got things beyond their control : 

" In times like these, there must be one ruling powei 
to which all others must yield. ' In a multitude ol 
counsellors,' saith the Book of Books, 'there is safet}^,' but 
nowhere we are told, in history or Revelation, that there 
is aught of safety in a multitude of rulers. Any 'rule of 
action,' sometimes called the ' law,' is better than a multi- 
tude of conflicting, irreconcilable statutes. Any one 
head is better than forty, each of which may conceive 
itself the nonpareil, par excellence, supreme ^ capuV of all 
civil and military affairs. 

" Let Governor Harris be king, if need be, and Baugh 
a despot." 

" Let Governor Harris be king, and Baugh a despot," 
says The Bulletin. Who is Baugh ? The Mayor of 
Memphis. The mob reign of terror gotten up under 
this doctrine of Secession is so great that we find they 
are appealing to the one-man power. They are even 
willing to make the Mayor of the city a despot, and 
Isham G. Harris, a little petty Governor of Tennessee, a 
king. He is to be made king over the State that contains 
the bones of the immortal, the illustrious Jackson. Isham 
G. Harris a king ! Or Jeff. Davis a dictator, and Isham 
G. Harris one of his satraps. He a king over the free 
and patriotic people of Tennessee ! Isham G. Harris to 
be my king. Yes, sir, my king ! I know the man. I 
know his elements. I know the ingredients that consti- 
tute the compound called Isham G. Harris. King Harris 
to be my master, and the master of the people that I 
have the proud and conscious satisfaction of representing 
on this floor I Mr. President, he should not be my slave. 
[^Applause in the galleries. 2 



LIFE AND SKRVICKS OF ANDTIEW JOHNSON". 61 

The President pro tempore — Order ! A repetition of 
the offence will compel the chair to order the galleries to 
be cleared forthwith. The order of the Senate must and 
shall be preserved. No demonstrations of applause or 
disapprobation will be allowed. The Chair hopes not to 
be compelled to resort to the extremity of clearing the 
galleries of the audience. 

Mr. Johnson of Tennessee — I was proceeding with this 
line of argument to show that, in the general proposition 
that there was a fixed determination to change the 
character and nature of the Government, the Senator from 
Kentucky and myself agree, and so far I think I have 
succeeded very well. And now, when we are looking at 
the elements of which this Southern Confederacy is com- 
posed, it may be well enough to examine the principles 
of the elements out of which a government is to be made 
that they prefer to this. We have shown, so far as the 
slavery question is concerned, that the whole question is 
settled, nnd it is now shown to the American people and 
the world that tiie people of the Southern States have 
now got no right which they said they had lost before 
they went out of this Union; but, , on the contrary, many 
of their rights have been diminished, and oppression 
and tyranny have Ijcen inaugurated in their stead. Let 
me ask you, sir, and let me ask the nation, wdiat right 
has any State in this so-called Confederacy lost under 
the Constitution of the United States ? Let me ask each 
individual citizen in the United States, what right has he 
lost by the continuance of this Government based on the 
Constitution of the United States? Is there a man North 
or South, East or "West, who can put his finger on one 
single privilege, or one single right, of which he has been 
deprived by the Constitution or Union of these States ? 
Can he do it ? Can he touch it ? Can he see it ? Can 
he feel it? No, sir; there is no one right that he has 
lost. How man}' rights and privileges, and how much 
protection liave they lost by going out of the Union, and 
violating the Constitution of the United States ? 

Pursuing this line of argument in regard to the forma- 
tion of their Government, let us take South Carolina, for 
instance, and see what her notions of government are. 
She is the leading spirit, and will constitute one of the 
master elements in the formation of this proposed Con- 
federate Government. What qualifications has South 



62 LIFE AXD SERVICES OF AXDREW JOHNSON. 

Carolina affixed upon members of her Lej^islature ? Let 
us see what are her notions of government — a State that 
will contribute to the formation of the Government that 
is to exist hereafter. In the Constitution of South Caro- 
lina it is provided that 

" 'No person shall be eligible to a seat in the House of 
Representatives unless he is a free v^diite man, of the age 
of twenty-one, and hath been a citizen and resident of 
this State three years previous to his election. If a resi- 
dent in the election district, he shall not be eligible to a 
seat in the House of Kepresentatives unless he he legally 
seized and possessed, in his own right, of a settled free- 
hold estate of five hundred acres of land and ten ne- 
groes." 

This is the notion that Sou^h Carolina has of the 
necessary qualifications of a member of the lower branch 
of the State Legislature, Now, I desire to ask the dis- 
tinguished Senator from Kentucky — who seems to be 
so tenacious about compromises, about rights, and about 
the settlement of this question, and who can discover 
that the Constitution has been violated so often and 
so flagrantly b}'- the administration now in power, yet 
never can see that it has been violated anywhere else. If 
he desires to seek under this South Carolina Government 
for his lost rights? I do not intend to be personal. I 
wish he were in his seat, for he knows that I have the 
greatest kindness for him. I am free to say, in connec- 
tion with what I am about to observe, that I am selfish 
in this; because, if I lived in South Carolina, with these 
disabilities or disqualifications affixed upon a member, I 
would not be eligible to a seat in the lower branch of the 
Legislature. That would be a poor place for me to go 
and get my rights; would it not? I doubt whether the 
Senator from Kentucky is eligible to-day to a seat in the 
lower branch of the Legislature of South Carolina. I 
do not refer to him in any other than the most respectful 
terms, but I doubt whether he would be qualified to take 
a seat in the lower branch of her Legislature. I should 
not be, and I believe I am just as good as any who do 
take seats there. 

In looking further into the Constitution of South Caro- 
lina, in order to ascertain what are her principles of gov- 
ernment, what do we find ? We find it provided that, in 



LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 63 

the apportionment of these representatives, the whole 
number of white inhabitants is to be divided by sixty-two, 
and every sixty-second part is to have one member. Then 
all the taxes are to be divided b}^ sixty-two, and every 
sixty-second part of the taxes is to have one member 
also. Hence we see that slaves, constituting the basis 
of property, would get the largest amount of representa- 
tion ; and we see that property goes in an unequal repre- 
sention to all the numbers, while those numbers consti- 
tute a part of the property-holders. That is the basis of 
their representation. 

Sir, the people whom I represent desire no such form 
of government. Nothwithstanding they have been borne 
down ; notwithstanding there has been an army of fifty-five 
thousand men created by the Legislature; notwithstand- 
ing $5,000,000 of money has been appropriated to be ex- 
pended against the Union ; and notwithstanding the 
arms manufactured by the Government, and distributed 
among the States for the protection of the people, have 
been denied to them by this little petty tyrant of a king, 
and are now turned upon the Government for its over- 
throw and destruction, those people, when left to them- 
selves to carry out their own government and the honest 
dictates of their own consciences, will be found to be op- 
posed to this revolution. 

Mr.. President, while the Congress of the Confederate 
States was engaged in the formation of their Constitution, 
I find a protest from South Carolina against a decision 
of that Congress in relation to the slave-trade, in The 
Charleston Mercury of Feb. 13. It is written by L. W. 
Spratt, to " the Hon. John Perkins, delegate from Louis- 
iana," It begins in this way : 

" From the abstract of the Constitution for the Pro- 
visional Government, published in the papers this morn- 
ing, it appears that the slave-trade, except with the Slave 
States of North America, shall be prohilbited. The Con- 
gress, therefore, not content with the laws of the late 
United States against it, which, it is to be presumed, 
were re-adopted, have unalterably fixed the subject, by a 
provision of the Constitution." 

He goes on and protests. We all know that that Consti- 
tution is made for the day, just for the time being, a mere 
tub thrown out to the whale, to amuse and entertain the 
public mind for a time. We know this to be so. p]ut in 
4 



64 LIFE AN'D SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 

making his argument, what does he say ? Mr. Spratt, a 
Commissioner who went to Florida, a member of the 
Convention tliat took the State of South Carolina out of 
the Union, says in this protest : 

"The South is now in the formation of a s?aue republic. 
This, perhaps is not admitted generally. There are many 
contented to believe that the South as a geographical sec- 
tion, is in mere assertion of its independence ; that it is 
instinct with no especial truth — pregnant of no distinct 
social nature ; that for some unaccountable reason the 
two sections have become opposed to each other ; that 
for reasons equally insufficient, there is disagreement be- 
tween the people that direct them; and that from no 
overruling necessity, no impossibility of co-existence, but 
as mere matter of policy, it has been considered best for 
the South to strike out for herself, and establish an inde- 
pendence of her own. This, I fear, is an inadequate con- 
ception of the controversy." 

This indicates the whole scheme. 

"The contest is not between the North and South as 
geographical sections, for between such sections merely 
there can be no contest; nor between the people of the 
North and the people of the South ; for our relations 
have been pleasant ; and on neutral grounds there is still 
nothing to estrange us. We eat together, trade together, 
and practice yet, in intercourse with great respect, the 
courtesies of common life. But the real contest is be- 
tween two forms of society Avhich have become estab- 
lished, the one at the North, and the other at the South." 

The protest continues : 

"With that perfect economy of resources, that just 
application of power, that concentration of forces, that 
security of order which results to slavery from the per- 
manent direction of its best intelligence, there is no other 
form of human labor that can stand against it, and it will 
build itself a home, and erect for itself, at some point 
within the present limits of the Southern States, a struc- 
ture of imperial power and grandeur — a glorious Con- 
federacy of States that will stand aloft and serene for ages, 
amid the anarchy of democracies that will reel around it." 

******-!< 

" But it may be that to this end another revolution may 
be necessary. It is to be apprehended that this contest 



LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 65 

between democracy and slavery is not yet over. It is cer- 
tain that both forms of society exist witliin tlie limits of the 
Southern States ; both are distinctly developed within 
the limits of Virginia ; and there, whether w^e perceive the 
fact or not, the war already rages. In that State there 
are about five hundred thousand slaves to about one mil- 
lion of whites ; and as at least as many slaves as masters 
are necessary to the constitution of slave society, about 
five hundred thousand of the white population are in 
legitimate relation to the slaves, and the rest are in excess." 

Hence we see the propriety of Mr. Mason's letter, in 
which he declared that all those who would not vote for 
secession must leave the State, and thereby you get clear 
of the excess of white population over slaves. They must 
emigrate. 

" Like an excess of alkali or acid in chemical experi- 
ments, they are unfixed in the social compound. Without 
legitimate connection with the slave, they are in compe- 
tition with him." 

The protest continues : 

"And even in this State, (South Carolina), the ultimate 
result is not determined. The slave condition here would 
seem to be established. There is here an excess of one hun- 
dred and twenty thousand slaves ; and here is fairly ex- 
hibited the normal nature of the institution. The officers 
of the State are slave-owners, and the representatives of 
slave-owners. In their public acts they exhibit the con- 
sciousness of a superior position. Without unusual indi- 
vidual ability, they exhibit the elevation of tone and 
composure of public sentiment proper to a master class. 
There is no appeal to the mass, for there is no mass to 
appeal to ; there are no demagogues, for there is no 
populace to breed them ; judges are not forced upon 
the stump ; Governors are not to be dragged before the 
people ; and when there is cause to act upon the fortunes 
of our social institution, there is perhaps an unusual 
readiness to meet it." 

Again : 

" It is probable that more abundant pauper labor may 
pour in, and it is to be feared that, even in this State, the 
purest in its slave condition, democracy may gain a foot- 
hold, and that here also the contest for existence may be 
waged between them. 



6Q LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 

" It thus appears that the contest is not ended with a 
dissolution of the Union, and that the agents of that 
contest still exist within the limits of the Southern States. 
The causes that have contributed to the defeat of slavery 
still occur ; our slaves are still drawn off by higher prices 
to the West. There is still foreign pauper labor ready to 
supply their place. Maryland, Virginia, Kentucky, Mis- 
souri, possibly Tennessee and Noi'th Carolina, may lose 
their slaves as New York, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey 
have done. In that condition they must recommence the 
contest. There is no avoiding that necessity. The sys- 
tems cannot mix; and thus it is that slavery, like the Thra- 
cian horse returning from the field of victory, still bears a 
master on his back ; and, having achieved one revolution 
to escape democracy at the North, it must still achieve 
another to escape it at the South. That it will ultimately 
triumph none can doubt. It will become redeemed and 
vindicated, and the only question now to be determined is, 
shall there be another revolution to that end?" * * 

" If, in short, you shall own slavery as the source of 
your authority, and act for it, and erect, as you are com- 
missioned to erect, not only a Southern but a slave repub- 
lic, the work will be accomplished." * * * 

"But if you shall not ; if you shall commence by igno- 
ring slavery, or shall be content to edge it on by indirec- 
tion ; if you shall exhibit care but for the republic, respect 
but a democracy; if you shall stipulate for the toleration 
of slavery as an existing evil, by admitting assumptions 
to its prejudice, and restrictions to its power and progress, 
you reinaugurate the blunder of 1*789; you will combine 
States, whether true or not, to slavery ; you will have no 
tests of faith ; some will find it to their interest to aban- 
don it ; slave labor will be fettered, hireling labor will be 
free ; your Confederacy is again divided into antagonistic 
societies; the irrepressible conflict is again commenced; 
and as slavery can sustain the structure of a stable Gov- 
ernment, and will sustain such a structure, and as it will 
sustain no structure but its own, another revolution comes ; 
but whether in the order and propriet}^ of this, is gravely 
to be doubted." 

In another part of this protest I find this paragraph : 

"If the clause be carried into the permanent Govern- 



LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 67 

ment, our whole movement is defeated. It will abolition- 
ize the border slave States — it will brand our institution. 
Slavery cannot share a Government with democracy — it 
cannot bear a brand upon it ; thence another revolution. 
It may be painful, but we must make it. The Constitu- 
tion cannot be changed without. The border States, dis- 
charged of slavery, will oppose it. . They are to be in- 
cluded by the concession ; tney will be sufficient to defeat 
it. It is doubtful if another movement will be as peace- 
ful." 

In this connection, let me read the following paragraph 
from De Bow's Review : 

" All government begins by usurpation, and is continued 
hy force. Nature puts the ruling elements uppermost, 
and the masses below and subject to those elements. Less 
than this is not government. The right to govern resides 
in a very small minority ; the duty to obey is inherent in 
the great mass of mankind." 

We find by an examination of all these articles that the 
whole idea is to establish a republic based upon slavery 
exclusively, in which the great mass of the people are not 
to participate. We find an argument made here against 
the admission of non-slaveholding States into their Con- 
federacy. If they refuse to admit a non-slaveholding 
State into the Confederacy, for the very sanie reason they 
will exclude an individual who is not a slaveholder, in a 
slaveholding State, from participating in the exercise of 
the powers of the Government. Taking the whole argu- 
ment through, and that is the plain meaning of it. Mr. 
Spratt says that sooner or later it will be done ; and if 
the present revolution will not accomplish it, it must be 
brought about even if another revolution has to take place. 
We see, therefore, that it is most clearly contemplated to 
change the character and nature of the Government so 
far as they are concerned. They have lost confidence in 
the integrity, in the capability, in the virtue and intel- 
ligence of tlie great mass of the people to govern. Sir, 
in the section of the country where I Hve, notwithstand- 
ing we reside in a slave State, we believe that freemen are 
capable of self-government. We care not in what shape 
their poverty exists ; whether it is in the shape of slaves 
or otherwise. We hold that it is upon the intelligent 



68 LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON". 

free white people of the country that all governments 
should rest, and by them all governments should be con- 
trolled. 

I think, therefore, sir, that the President and the Senator 
from Kentucky have stated the question aright. This is 
a struggle between two forms of government. It is a 
struggle for the existence of the Government we have. 
The issue is now fairly made up. All who favor free 
government must stand with the Constitution, and in favor 
of the Union of the States as it is. That Union being once 
restored, the Constitution again becoming supreme and 
paramount, when peace, law, and order shall be restored, 
when the Government shall be restored to its pristine posi- 
tion, then, if necesary, we can come forward under proper 
and favorable circumstances to amend, change, alter, and 
modify the Constitution, as pointed out by the fifth article 
of the instrument, and thereby perpetuate the Government. 
This can be done, and this should be done. 

"We have heard a great deal said in reference to the viola- 
tion of the Constitution. The Senator from Kentucky 
seems exceedingly sensitve about violations of the Consti- 
tution. Sir, it seems to me, admitting that his apprehen- 
sions are well founded, that a violation of the Constitution 
for the preservation of the Government is more tolerable 
than one for its destruction. In all these complaints, in 
all these arraignments of the present Government for viola- 
tion of law and disregard of the Constiution, have you 
heard, as was forcibly and eloquently said by the Senator 
from Illinois (Mr. Browning) before me, one word uttered 
against violations of the Constitution and the trampling 
under foot of law by the States or the party now making 
war upon the Government of the United States ? Not a 
word, sir. 

The Senator enumerates what he calls violations of the 
Constitution — the suspension of the writ of habeas corpus, 
the proclaiming of martial law, the increase of the army 
and navy, and the existing war ; and then he asks, " Vi'hy 
all this ? " The answer must be apparent to all. 

But first, let me supply a chronological table of events 
on the other side : 

December 27, 1860. The revenue cutter William Aiken 
surrendered by her commander, and taken possession of 
by South Carolina. 



LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 69 

December 28. Fort Moultrie and Castle Pinckney, at 
Charleston, seized. 

December 30. The United States arsenal at Charleston 
seized. n 

January 2, 1861. Fort Macon and the United States 
arsenal at Fayette ville seized by jN^orth Carolina. 

January 3. Forts Pulaski and Jackson, and the United 
States arsenal at Savannah, seized by Georgia troops. 

January 4. Fort Morgan and the United States arsenal 
at Mobile seized by Alabama. 

January 8. Forts Johnson and Caswell, at Smithville, 
seized by North Carolina ; restored by order of Gov. Ellis. 

January 9. The Star of the West, bearing reinforce- 
ments to Major Anderson, fired at in Charleston harbor, 

January 10. The steamer Marion seized by South 
Carolina; restored on the 11th. 

January 11. The United States arsenal at Baton 
Rouge, and Forts Pike, St. Philip, and Jackson, seized by 
Louisiana. 

January 12. Fort Barancas and the navy-yard at Pen- 
sacola seized by Florida. 

January 12. Fort McRae, at Pensacola, seized by 
Florida. 

These forts cost $5,947,000, are pierced for 1,099 guns, 
and are adapted for a war garrison of 5,430 men. 

We find, as was shown here the other day, and as has 
been shown on former occasions, that the State of South 
Carolina seceded, or attempted to secede, from this con- 
federacy of States without cause. In seceding, her first 
step was a violation of the Constitution. She seceded on 
the 20th of last December, making the first innovation and 
violation of the law and the Constitution of the country. 
On the 28th day of December what did she do ? She 
seized Fort Moultrie and Castle Pinckney, and caused 
your little band of sixty or seventy men, under the com- 
mand of Major Anderson, to retire to a little pen in the 
ocean — Fort Sumter. She commenced erecting batteries, 
arraying cannon, preparing for war ; in effect, proclaiming 
herself at once our enemy. Seceding from the Union, 
taking Fort Moultrie and Castle Pinckney, driving your 
men, in fact, into Fort Sumter, I say were piratical acts 
of war. You need not talk to me about technicalities, and 
the distinction that you have got no war till Congress de- 



70 LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 

clares it. Congress could legalize it, or could make war, 
it is true ; but that was practical war. Who began it ? 
Then, sir, if South Carolina secedes, withdraws from the 
Union, becomes our common enemy, is it not the duty, 
the constitutional duty of the Government, and of the Pres- 
ident of the United States to make war, or to resist the 
attacks and assaults made by an enemy ? Is she not as 
much our enemy as Great Britain was in the revolution- 
ary struggle ? Is she not to day as much our enemy as 
Great Britain was during the war of 1812 ? 

In this connection I desire to read some remarks made 
by the Senator from Missouri (Mr. Polk) in his speech 
the other day, in regard to this general idea of who made 
the war. 

" This has all been brought about since the adjournment 
of the last Congress — since the 4th of March ; indeed, 
since the 15th of April. Congress has declared no war. 
The Constitution of the United States says ' that Con- 
gress shall be authorized to declare war ;' and yet, sir, 
though Congress has declared no war, we are in the 
midst of a war monstrous in its character, and hugely 
monstrous in its proportions. That war has been brought 
on by the President of the United States since the 4th of 
March, of his own motion and of his own wrong ; and un- 
der what circumstances ? Before the close of the last 
Congress, as early as the month of January, secession 
was an accomplished fact. Before the close of the last 
Congress, as many States bad seceded from the Union, 
or had claimed to secede, as had on the 15th of April ; 
and yet the last Congress made no declaration of war ; the 
last Congress passed no legislation calculated to carry on 
the war; the last Congress refused to pass bills having 
this direction or having any purpose of coercion. Now, 
sir, how has this war been brought on ? I have said that, 
in my judgment, it has been brought on by the President 
of the United States, and a portion of the procedure which 
has resulted in it is named in the preamble of this joint 
resolution, which it is proposed that we shall approve and 
legalize." 

The Senator from Kentucky (Mr. Powell) spoke in 
similar language. Alluding to the refusal of Kentucky 
to respond to the first call of the President for seventy-five 
thousand men, he said : 



LIFE and" SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 71 

" She believed that the calling forth of such an immense 
armament was for the purpose of making a war of subju- 
gation on the Southern States, and upon that ground she 
refused to furnish the regiments called for. The Senator 
seems to be a little offended at the neutrality of Kentucky. 
Sir, Kentucky has assumed a position of neutrality, and I 
only hope that she may be able to maintain it. She has 
assumed that position because there is no impulse of her 
patriotic heart that desires her to imbrue her hands in a 
brother's blood, whether he be from the North or the 
South. Kentucky looks upon this war as unholy, un- 
righteous, and unjust. Kentucky believes that this war, 
if carried out, can result in nothing else than the total dis- 
ruption of the Confederacy. She hopes, she wishes, she 
prays, that this Union may be maintained. She believes 
that cannot be done by force of arms ; that it must be 
done by compromise and conciliation if it can be done at 
all; and hence, being devoted truly to the Union, she de- 
sires measures of peace to be presented for the adjustment 
of our difficulties." 

I desire in this connection to place before the Senate 
the remarks of both the Senators from Kentucky and the 
Senator from Missouri, and to answer them at the same 
time. The Senator from Missouri says the war was 
brought on since the 4th of March by the President of the 
United States of his own motion. The Senator from Ken- 
tucky (Mr. Powell) pronounces it an unjust, an unright- 
eous and an unholy war. 

But, sir, I comaienced enumerating the facts with the 
view of showing who commenced the war. How do they 
stand ? I have just stated that South Carolina seceded — 
withdrew from the Confederacy ; and in the very act of 
withdrawing, she makes practical war upon the Govern- 
ment, and becomes its enemy. The Star of the West, on 
the Tth of January, laden simply with provisions to sup- 
ply those starving men at Fort Sumter, attempted to enter 
the harbor, and was fired upon, and had to tack about, and 
leave the men in the fort to perish or do the best they 
could. We also find, that on the 11th of April, General 
Beauregard had an interview with Major Anderson, and 
made a proposition to him to surrender. Major Anderson 
stated, in substance, that he could do no such thing ; that 
he could not strike the colors of his country, and refused 



72 LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 

to surrender ; but he said, at the same time, that by the 
15th of the month his provisions would give out, and if 
not reinforced and supplied starvation must take place. 
It seems that at this time Mr. Pryor, from Virginia, was 
in Charleston. The Convention of Virginia was sitting, 
and it was important that the cannon's roar should be 
heard in the land. Virginia was to be taken out of the 
Union, although a majority of the delegates in the Con- 
vention were elected against secession, and in favor of the 
Union. We find that after being in possession of the fact 
that by the 15th of the month the garrison would be 
starved out and compelled to surrender, on the morning of 
the 12th they commenced the bombardment, fired upon 
the fort and upon your men. They knew that in three 
days they would be compelled to surrender, but they 
wanted war. It was indispensable to produce an excite- 
ment in order to hurry Virginia out of the Union, and 
they commenced the war. The firing was kept up until 
such time as the fort was involved in smoke and flames, 
and Major Anderson and his men were compelled to lie 
on the floor with their wet handkerchiefs to their faces to 
save them from suffocation and death. Even in the midst 
of all this, they refused to cease their firing, but kept it up 
until he was compelled to surrender. 

Who, then, commenced the war ? Who struck the 
first blow ? Who violated the Constitution in the first 
place ? Who trampled the law under foot, and violated 
the law morally and legally ? Was it not South Carolina 
in seceding? And yet you talk about the President hav- 
ing brought on the war by his own motion, when these 
facts are incontrovertible. No one dare attempt to assail 
them. But after Fort Sumter was attacked and surren- 
dered, what do we find stated in Montgomery when the 
news reached there ? Here is the telegraphic announce- 
ment of the reception of the news there : 

Montgomery, Friday, April 12, 1861. 
" An immense crowd serenaded President Davis and 
Secretary Walker, at the Exchange Hotel to-night." 

Mr. Davis refused to address the audience, but his 
Secretary of War did. The Secretary of War, Mr. 
Walker, said • 



LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 73 

"No man could tell where the war this day commenced 
would end, but he would prophesy that the fia<? which now 
flaunts the breeze here would float over the old Capitol, at 
Wasliington, before the 1st of May. Let them try Southern 
chivalry and test the extent of Southern resources, and it 
might float eventually over Faneuil Hall itself." 

What is the announcement ? We have attacked Fort 
Sumter and it has surrendered, and no one can tell where 
this war will end. By the 1st of May our flag will wave 
in triumph from the dome of the old Capitol at Wash- 
ington, and ere long, perhaps, from Faneuil Hall in Boston. 
Then was this war commenced by the President on his own 
motion ? You say that the President of the United States did 
wrong in ordering out seventy-five thousand men, and in in- 
creasing the army and navy under the exigency. Do we not 
know, in connection with these facts, that so soon as Fort 
Sumter surrendered they took up the line of march for Wash- 
ington ? Do not some of us who were here know that we did 
not even go to bed very confidently and securely, for the fear 
that the city would be taken before the rising sun ? Has it 
not been published in the Southern newspapers that Ben 
McCulloch was in readiness, with five thousand picked men, 
in the State of Virginia, to make a descent and attack the 
city, and take it ? 

What more do we find ? We find that the Congress of 
this same pseudo-republic, this same Southern Confederacy 
that has sprung up in the South, as early as the 6th of 
March passed a law preparing for this invasion — preparing 
for this war which they commenced. Here it is : 

" That in order to provide speedily forces to repel inva- 
sion, maintain the rightful possession of the Confederate 
States of America in every portion of territory belonging 
to each State, and to secure the public tranquility and 
independence against threatened assault, the President be, 
and he is hereby, authorized to employ the militia, military, 
and naval forces of the Confederate States of America, 
and ask for and accept the services of any number of volun- 
teers, not exceeding one hundred thousand." 

When your forts were surrendered, and when the Presi- 
dent of the so-called Southern Confederacy was authorized 
to call out the entire militia, naval, and military forces, and 
then to receive in the service of the Confederate States 



74 LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON". 

one hundred thousand men, the President calls for seventy- 
five thousand men to defend the capital and the public 
property. Are we for the Government, or are we against 
it ? That is the question. Taking all the facts into con- 
sideration, do we not see that an invasion was intended ? 
It was even announced by Mr. Iverson upon this floor that 
ere long their Congress would be sitting here, and this 
Government would be overthrown. When the facts are all 
put together we see the scheme, and it is nothing more nor 
less than executing a programme deliberately made out ; 
and yet Senators hesitate, falter, and complain, and say the 
President has suspended the writ of habeas corpus, increased 
the army and navy, and they ask, where was the necessity 
for all this ? With your forts taken, your men fired upon, 
your ships attacked at sea, and one hundred thousand men 
called into the field by this so-called Southern Confederacy, 
with the additional authority to call out the entire military 
and naval force of those States, Senators talk about the 
enormous call of the President for seventy-five thousand 
men and the increase he has made of the army and navy. 
Mr. President, it all goes to show, in my opinion, that the 
sympathies of Senators are with the one Government and 
against the other. Admitting that there was a little stretch 
of power ; admitting that the margin was pretty wide when 
the power was exercised, the query now comes, when you 
have got the power, when you are sitting here in a legisla- 
tive attitude, are you willing to sustain the Government 
and give it the means to sustain itself? It is not worth 
while to talk about what has been done before. The ques- 
tion on any measure should be, is it necessary now ? If it 
is, it should not be withheld from the Government. 

Senators talk about violating the Constitution and the 
laws. A great deal has been said about searches and 
seizures, and the right of protection of persons and of 
papers. I reckon it is equally as important to protect a 
Government from seizure as it is an individual, I reckon 
the moral and the law of the case would be just as strong 
in seizing upon that which belonged to the Federal Gov- 
ernment as it would upon that belonging to an individual. 
What belongs to us in the aggregate is protected and 
maintained by the same law, moral and legal, as that which 
applies to an individual. These rebellious States, after 
commencing this war, after violating the Constitution, 



LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 75 

seized our forts, our arsenals, our dock-yards, our custom- 
houses, our public buildings, our ships, and last, though 
not least, plundered the independent treasury at New 
Orleans of $1,000,000. And yet Senators talk about vio- 
lations of the law and the Constitution. They say the 
Constitution is disregarded, and the Government is about 
to be overthrown. Does not this talk about violations of 
the Constitution and the law come with a beautiful grace 
from that side of the House ? I repeat again. Sir, are not 
violations of the Constitution necessary for its protection 
and vindication more tolerable than the violations of that 
sacred instrument aimed ^t the overthrow and destruction 
of the Government? We have seen instances, and other 
instances might occur, where it might be indispensably 
necessary for the Government to exercise a power and to 
assume a position that was not clearly legal and constitu- 
tional, in order to resist the entire overthrow and upturning 
of the Government and all our institutions. 

But the President issued his proclamation. When did 
he issue it, and for what ? He issued his proclamation 
calling out seventy-five thousand men after the Congress 
of the so-called Southern Confederacy had passed a law to 
call out the entire militia, and to receive into their service 
one hundred thousand men. The President issued his pro- 
clamation after they had taken Fort Moultrie and Castle 
Pinckney ; after they had fired upon and reduced Fort 
Sumter. Fort Sumter was taken on the 12th, and on 
the 15th he issued his proclamation. Taking all these 
circumstances together, it showed that they intended to 
advance, and that their object was to extend their power, 
to subjugate the other States, and to overthrow the Con- 
stitution and the laws of the Government. 

Senators talk about the violation of the Constitution. 
Have you heard any intimation of complaint from those 
Senators about this Southern Confederacy — this band of 
traitors to their country and country's institutions ? I 
repeat, substantially, the language of the Senator from 
Hlinois (Mr. Browning): "Have you heard any complaint 
or alarm about violations of constitutional law on the other 
side ? Oh, no ! But we must stand still ; the Government 
must not move while they are moving with a hundred 
thousand men ; while they have the power to call forth the 
entire militia and the army and the navy. While they are 



76 LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 

reducing our forts, and robbing us of our property, we 
must stand still ; the Constitution and the laws must not 
be violated ; and an arraignment is made to weaken and 
paralyze the Government in its greatest peril and trial." 

On the 15th of April, the proclamation was issued calling 
out seventy-five thousand men, after the Confederate States 
had authorized one hundred thousand men to be received 
by their President — this man Davis, who stood up here and 
made a retiring speech — a man educated and nurtured by 
the Government ; who sucked its pap ; who received all 
his military instruction at the hands of this Government ; 
a man who got all his distinction, civil and military, in the 
service of this Government, beneath the Stars and Stripes, 
and then, without cause — without being deprived of a 
single right and privilege — the sword he unsheathed in 
vindication of that flag in a foreign land, given to him by 
the hand of his cherishing mother, he stands this day pre- 
pared to plunge into her bosom. Such men as these have 
their apologists here in Congress to excuse and extenuate 
their acts, either directly or indirectly. You never hear 
from them of law or Constitution being violated down 
there. Oh, no ; that is not mentioned. 

On the 15th, the President issued his proclamation 
calling seventy-five thousand men into the service of the 
United States, and on the 17th, this same Jefferson Davis, 
President of the Southern Confederacy, issued a proclama- 
tion proposing or opening the door to the issuance of 
letters of marque and reprisal, and that, too, in violation 
of the pseudo-hermaphrodite Government that has been 
gotten up down there. In retaliation for the proclamation 
issued by the President of the United States, he, in viola- 
tion of the Constitution of this pseudo-confederacy, issued 
his proclamation proposing to issue letters of marque and 
reprisal. In other words, he proposed to open an office 
and say, we will give out licenses to rob the citizens of the 
United States of all their property wherever it can be 
picked up upon the high seas. This he proposed to do, not 
only in violation of the Constitution of the Confederate 
States, but in violation of the law of nations ; for no 
people — 1 care not by what name you call it — has a right 
to issue letters of marque and reprisal until its indepen- 
dence is first acknowledged as a separate and distinct 
power. Has that been done? I think, therefore. Senators 



LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 77 

can find some little violation of Constitution and law down 
there among themselves. Sir, they have violated the law 
and the Constitution every step they progressed in going 
there, and now they violate it in trying to come this way. 
There was a general license offered, a premium offered, to 
every freebooter, to every man who wanted to plunder and 
play the pirate on the high seas, to come and take a com- 
mission, and plunder in the name of the Southern Con- 
federacy ; to take, at that time, the property of Tennessee 
or the property of Kentucky — your beef, your pork, your 
flour, and every other product making its way to a foreign 
market. Mr. Davis authorized letters of marque and 
reprisal to pick them up and appropriate them. After 
that their Congress saw that he had gone ahead of theii 
Constitution and the laws of nations, and they passed a 
law modifying the issuance of letters of marque and repri- 
sal, that they should prey upon the property of the citizens 
of the United States, excepting certain States — excepting 
Kentucky and Tennessee — holding that out as a bait, as an 
inducement to get them in. 

I do not think, therefore, when we approach the subject 
fairly and squarely, that there was any very great wrong 
in the President of the United States, on the 19th, issuing 
his proclamation blockading their ports, saying you shall 
not have the opportunity, so far as I can prevent it, of 
plundering and appropriating other people's property on 
the high seas. I think he did precisely what was right. 
He would have been derelict to his duty, and to the high 
behest of the American people, if he had set here and 
failed to exert every power within his reach and scope 
to protect the property of the United States on the high 
seas. 

Senators seem to think it is no violation of the Consti- *. 
tution to make war on your Government, and when its i 
enemies are stationed in sight of the capital, there is no \ 
alarm, no dread, no scare, no fright. Some of us would \ 
not feel so very comfortable if they were to get this city. '^ 
I believe there are others who would not bfe very much l 
disturbed. I do not think I could sleep right sound if 
they were in possession of this city ; not that I believe I 
am more timid than most men, but I do not believe there 
would be much quarter for me ; and, by way of self- 
protection, and enjoying what few rights I have remaining, 



78 LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 

I expect it would be better, if they were in possession of 
this city, for me to be located in some other point not too 
inconvenient or too remote. I believe there are others 
who would feel very comfortable here. 

Then, Mr. President, in tracing this subject along, I 
cannot see what great wrong has been committed by the 
Government in taking the course it has taken. I repeat 
again, this Government is now passing through its third 
ordeal ; and the time has arrived when it should put forth 
its entire power, and say to the rebels and traitors, 
wherever they are, that the supremacy of the Constitution, 
and laws made in pursuance thereof, shall be sustained ; 
that those citizens who have been borne down and tyran- 
nized over, and who have had laws of treason passed 
against them in their own States, threatened with confisca- 
tion of property, shall be protected. I say it is the para- 
mount duty of this Government to assert its power and 
maintain its integrity. I say it is the duty of this Gov- 
ernment to protect those States, or the loyal citizens of 
those States, in the enjoyment of a republican form of 
government, for we have seen one continued system of 
usurpation carried on from one end of these Southern 
States to the other, disregarding the popular judgment, 
disregarding the popular will, setting at defiance the judg- 
ment of the people, disregarding their rights, paying no 
attention to their State Constitutions in any sense what- 
ever. We are bound, under the Constitution, to protect 
those States and their citizens. We are bound to guar- 
antee to them a republican form of government ; it is our 
duty to do it. If we have no government, let the delusion 
be dispelled, let the dream pass away, and let the people 
of the United States, and the nations of the earth, know 
at once tliat we have no government. If we have a gov- 
ernment, based on the intelligence and virtue of the 
American people, let that great fact be now established, 
and once established this Government will be on a more 
enduring and permanent basis than it ever was before. I 
still have confidence in the integrity, the virtue, the intelli- 
gence, and the patriotism of the great mass of the people; 
and so believing, I intend to stand by the Government of 
my fathers to the last extremity. 

In the last Presidential contest, I am free to say that I 
took some part. I advocated the pretensions and claims 



LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 79 

of one of the distinguished sons of Kentucky, as a Demo- 
crat. I am a Democrat to-day ; I expect to die one. My 
Democracy rests upon the great principle I have stated ; 
and in the support of measures, I have always tried to be 
guided by a conscientious conviction of right ; and I have 
laid down for myself, as a rule of action in all doubtful 
questions, to pursue principle ; and in the pursuit of a 
great principle I can never reach a wrong conclusion. I 
intend, in this case, to pursue principle. I am a Demo- 
crat, believing the principles of this government are demo- 
cratic. It is based upon the democratic theory. I believe 
Democracy can stand, notwithstanding all the taunts and 
jeers that are thrown at it throughout the Southern Con- 
federacy. The principles which I call Democracy — I care 
not by what name they are sustained, whether by Repub- 
licans, by Whigs, or not — are the great principles that lie 
at the foundation of this Government, and they will be 
maintained. We have seen that so far the experiment 
has succeeded well ; and now we should make an eftbrt, 
in this last ordeal through which we are passing, to crush 
out the fatal doctrine of Secession, and those who are co- 
operating with it in the shape of rebels and traitors. 

I advocated the professions of a distinguished son of 
Kentucky, at the late election, for the reason that I be- 
lieved he was a better Union man than any other candidate 
in the field. Others advocated the claims of Mr. Bell, 
believing him to be a better Union man ; others, those of 
Mr. Douglas. In the South we know that there was no 
Kepublican ticket. I was a Union man then ; I was a 
Union man in 1833 ; I am a Union man now. And what 
has transpired since the election in November last that 
has produced sufficient cause to break up this Govern- 
ment ? The Senator from California enumerated the facts 
up to the 25th day of May, 1860, when there was a vote 
taken in this body for the protection of slave property in 
the Territories. Now, from the 6th of November up to 
the 20th of December, tell me what transpired of sufficient 
cause to break up this Government ? Was there any in- 
novation, w^as there any additional step taken in reference 
to the institution of slavery ? If the candidate whose 
claims I advocated had been elected President — I speak 
of him as a candidate, of course not meaning to be per- 
sonal — I do not believe this Government would have been 
5 



80 LIFE AK'D SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON'. 

broken up. If Steplien A. Douglas had been elected, I 
do not believe this Government would have been broken 
up. Why ? Because those who advocated the preten- 
sions of Mr. Lincoln would have done as all parties have 
done heretofore : they would have yielded to the high 
behest of the American people. 

Then, is the mere defeat of one man, and the election 
of another according to the forms of law and the Consti- 
tution, sufficient cause to break up this Government? 
No ; it is not sufiBcient cause. Do we not know, too, that 
if all the seceding Senators had stood here as faithful sen- 
tinels, representing the interests of their States, they had 
it in their power to check any advance that might be made 
by the incoming administration. I showed these facts, 
and enumerated them at the last session. They were 
shown here the other day. On the 4th of March, when 
President Lincoln was inaugurated, we had a majority of 
six upon this floor in opposition to his administration. 
Where, then, is there even a pretext for breaking up the 
Government, upon the idea that he would have encroached 
upon our rights ? Does not the nation know that Mr. 
Lincoln could not have made his Cabinet without the con- 
sent of the majority of the Senate ? Do we not know 
that he could not even have sent a minister abroad without 
the majority of the Senate confirming the nomination ? 
Do we not know that if any minister whom he sent abroad 
should make a treaty inimical to the institutions of the 
South, that treaty could not have been ratified without a 
majority of two-thirds of the Senate ? 

With all these facts staring them in the face, where is 
the pretence for breaking up the Government ? Is it not 
clear that there has been a fixed purpose, a settled design, 
to break up the Government and change the nature and 
character, and whole genius of the Government itself? 
Does it not prove conclusively, as there was no cause, that 
they simply selected it as an occasion that was favorable to 
excite the prejudices of the South, and thereby enable them 
to break up this Government and establish a Southern Con- 
federacy ? 

Then, when we get at it, what is the real cause ? If 
Mr. Breckinridge, or Mr. Davis, or some other favorite of 
those who are now engaged in breaking up the Govern- 
ment, had been elected President of the United States, it 



LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDEEW JOHNSOX. 81 

would have been a very nice thing : they would have 
respected the judgment of the people, and no doubt their 
confidence in the capacity of the people for self-govern- 
ment would have been increased ; but it so happened that 
the people thought proper to elect somebody else, accord- 
ing to law and the Constitution. Then, as all parties hud 
done heretofore, it was the duty of th^ whole people to 
acquiesce ; if he made a good President, sustain him ; if 
he became a bad one, condemn him ; if he violated the 
law and the Constitution, impeach him. We had our 
remedy under the Constitution, and in the Union. 

What is the real cause ? Disappointed ambition ; an 
unhalloxyed ambition. Certain men could not wait any 
longer, and they seized this occasion to do what they had 
been wanting to do for a long time — break up the Govern- 
ment. If they could not rule a large country, they thought 
they might rule a small one. Hence, one of the prime 
movers in the Senate ceased to be a Senator, and passed 
out to be President of the Southern Confederacy. An- 
other, who was bold enough on this floor to proclaim him- 
self a rebel, retired as a Senator, and became Secretary 
of State. All perfectly disinterested — no ambition about 
it I Another — Mr. Benjamin, of Louisiana — one who un- 
derstands something about the idea of dividing garments ; 
who belongs to the tribe that parted the garments of our 
Saviour, and upon his vesture cast lots — went out of this 
body, and was made Attorney-General, to show his patriot- 
ism and disinterestedness — nothing else ! Mr. Slidell, dis- 
interested altogether, is to go as Minister to France. I 
might enumerate many such instances. This is all patriot- 
ism, pure disinterestedness ! Do we not see where it all 
ends ? Disappointed, impatient, unhallowed ambition. 
There has been no cause for breaking up this Govern- 
ment ; there have been no rights denied, no privileges 
trampled upon under the Constitution and Union, that 
might not have been remedied more effectually in the Union 
than outside of it. What rights are to be attained out- 
side of the Union ? The seceders have violated the 
Constitution, trampled it under foot ; and what is thefr 
condition now ? Upon the abstract idea that they had a 
right to secede, they have gone out ; and what is the con- 
sequence ? Oppression, taxation, blood, and civil war I 



82 LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 

They have p:one out of the ITuion ; and, I repeat again, 
they have got taxes, usurpations, blood, and civil war 1 

I said just now that I had advocated the election to the 
Presidency of the distinguished Senator from Kentucky, 
on the ground that he was a good Union man. I wish 
w^e could now hear his eloquent voice in favor of the old 
government of otir fathers, and in vindication of the stars 
and stripes that have been borne in triumph everywhere. 
I hold in my hand a document which was our text-book in 
the campaign. It is headed " Breckinridge and Lane 
Campaign Document, No. 16. Who are the Disuniouists? 
Breckinridge and Lane the true Union candidates." It 
contains an extract, which I will read, from the Senator's 
address on the removal of the Senate from the old to the 
new chamber. I would to God he was as good a Union 
man to-day as I think he was then : 

" Such is our country ; ay, and more — far more than my 
mind could conceive, or my tongue could utter. Is there 
an American who regrets the past ? Is there one who will 
deride his country's laws, pervert her Constitution, or 
alienate her people ? If there be such a man, let his 
memory descend to posterity laden with the execrations 
of all mankind. * * * * Let us devoutly trust that an- 
other Senate, in another age, shall bear to a new and 
larger chamber, this Constitution, vigorous and inviolate, 
and that the last generation of posterity shall witness the 
deliberations of the Representatives of American States 
still United, prosperous, and free." 

Now, this was the text — an extract from a speech of 
the Senator, after the nomination was made : 

" When that Convention selected me as one of its candi- 
dates, looking at my humble antecedents and the place of 
my habitation, it gave to the country, so far as I was con- 
cerned, a personal and geographical guaranty that its in- 
terest was in the Union." 

In addition to that, in Tennessee we headed our electoral 
ticket, as if to give unmistakcable evidence of our devotion 
to the Union, and the reason why we sustained him, "Na- 
tional Democratic ticket. ' Instead of dissolving the Union, 
we intend to lengthen it and to stengthen it.' — Breckin- 
ridge.''^ Where are his eloquent tones now? They are 
heard arraigning the Administration for what he conceives 



• LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 83 

to be premature action, in advance of the law, or a slight 
departure from the Constitution. Which is the most tol- 
erable, premature action, action in advance of law, a slight 
departure from the Constitution, (putting it on his own 
ground), or an entire overthrow of the Government? Are 
there no advances, are there no inroads, being made to-day 
upon the Constitution and the existence of the Government 
itself? Let us look at the question plainly and fairly. 
Here is an invading army almost within cannon-shot of the 
ca[>ital, headed by Jeif. Davis and Beauregard. Suppose 
they advance on the city to-night ; subjugate it ; depose 
the existing authorities; expel the present Government : 
what kind of Government have you then ? Is there any 
Constitution in it? Is there any law in it? The Senator 
can stand here almost in sight of the enemy, see the citadel 
of freedom — the Constitution — trampled upon, and there 
is no apprehension ; but he can look with an eagle eye, 
and, with an analytic process, almost unsurpassed, discrim- 
inate against and attack those who are trying to manage 
your Government for its safety and preservation. He has 
no word of condemnation for the invading army that threat- 
ens to overthrow the capital, that threatens to trample the 
Constitution and the law under foot. I repeat, suppose 
Davis at the head of his advancing columns should depose 
your Government and expel your authority : what kind of 
Government will you have ? Will there be any Constitu- 
tion left ? How eloquent my friend was upon Constitu- 
tions ! He told us the Constitution was the measure of 
power, and that we should understand and feel constitu- 
tional restraints ; and yet when your Government is per- 
haps witliin a few hours of being overthrown, and tlie law 
and Constitution trampled under foot, there are no appre- 
hensions on his part; no words of rebuke for those who 
are endeavuring to accomplish such results. 

The Old Dominion has got the brunt of the war upon 
her hands. I sympathize with her most deeply, and espe- 
cially with the loyal portion of her citizens, who have been 
brow-beaten and domineered over. Now the war is trans- 
ferred to Virginia, and her plains are made to run with 
blood ; and when this is secured, what do we hear in the 
far South ? Howell Cobb, another of these disinterested 
patriots, said not long since, in a speech in Georgia : 

" The people of the Gulf States need have no apprehen- 



84 LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 

sions ; they might go on with their planting and their 
other business as usual ; the war would not come to their 
section ; its theatre would be along the borders of the 
Ohio river and in Virginia. " 

Virginia ought to congratulate herself upon that posi- 
tion, for she has got the war. Now they want to advance. 
Their plans and designs are to get across into Maryland, 
and carry on a war of subjugation. There is wonderful 
alarm among certain gentlemen here at the term "subju- 
gate." They are alarmed at tlie idea of making citizens 
who have violated the law simply conform to it by enforc- 
ing their obedience. If a majority of the citizens in a 
State have violated the Constitution, have trampled it 
under foot and violated the law, is it subjugation to assert 
the supremacy of the Constitution and the law ? Is it any 
more than a simple enforcement of the law ? It would be 
one of the best subjugations that could take place if some 
of them were subjugated and brought back to the Consti- 
tutional position that they occupied before. I would to 
God that Tennessee stood to-day where she did three 
months ago. 

Mr. President, it is provided in the Constitution of the 
United States that " no State shall, without the consent of 
Congress, lay any duty of tonnage, keep troops or ships of 
war in time of i)eace, enter into any agreement or compact 
with another State, or with a foreign power, or engage in 
war unless actually invaded, or in such imminent danger as 
will not admit of delay." The State authorities of Ten- 
nessee, before her people had even voted upon an ordi- 
nance to separate her from the Union, formed a league l)y 
which they transferred fifty-five thousand men, the whole 
array, over to the Confederate States for the purpose of 
prosecuting their war. Is it not strange that such a pal- 
pable violation of the Constitution should not be referred 
to and condemned by any one ?. Here is a member of the 
Union, without even having the vote taken upon an ordi- 
nance ofseparation or secession, forming a league, by its com- 
missioners or ministers, and handing over fifty-five thousand 
men to make war upon the Government of the United 
States, though they were themselves then within the Union. 
No one seems to find fault with that. The fact is, that in 
the wliole progress of scccession, the Constitution and the 
law have been violated at every step from its incipiency 



LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANRDEW JOHNSON. 85 

to the present point. How have the people of my State 
been treated ? 1 know that this may not interest the Sen- 
ate to any very great extent ; but I must briefly refer to it. 
The people of a portion of that State, having devotion 
and attachment to the Constitution and the Government 
as framed by the sires of the Revolution, still adhering to 
it, gave a majority of more than twenty thousand votes in 
favor of the Union at the election. After that, this por- 
tion of the State, East Tennessee, called a convention, and 
the convention published an address, in which they sum up 
some of the grievances which we have been bearing in that 
portion of the country. They say : 

" The Memphis Appeal, a prominent disunion paper, 
published a false account of our proceedings, under the 
head 'The Traitors in Council,' and styled us, who repre- 
sented every county but two in East Tennessee, the little 
batch of disaffected traitors who hover around the noxious 
atmosphere of Andrew Johnson's home. Our meeting was 
telegraphed to the New Orleans Delta, and it was falsely 
said that we had passed a resolution recommending sub- 
mission if seventy thousand votes were not cast against 
secession. The despatch added that 'the Southern Rights 
men are determined to hold possession of the State, though 
they should be in a minority.'" 

They had fifty-five thousand men and $5,000,000 to 
sustain them, the State authorities with them, and made 
the declaration that they intended to hold the State 
though they should be in a minority. This shows the 
advance of tyranny and usurpation. By way of showing 
the Senate some of the wrongs borne and submitted to by 
that people who are loyal to the Government — who have 
been deprived of the arms furnished by the Government 
for their protection — witheld by this little man Harris, the 
Governor of the State — I will read a few paragraphs from 
the address : 

" It has passed laws declaring it treason to say or do 
any thing in favor of the Government of the United States 
or against the Confederate States ; and such a law is now 
before, and we apprehend will soon be passed by, the 
Legislature of Tennessee. 

" It has involved the Southern States in a war whose 



86 LIFE AND SEEVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 

success is hopeless, and which must ultimately lead to the 
ruin of the people. 

" It's biiroted, overbearing, and intolerant spirit has 
already subjected the people of East Tennessee to many 
petty grievances ; our people have been insulted ; our flags 
have been fired upon and torn down ; our houses have 
been rudely entered ; our families have been subjected to 
insult ; our peaceable meetings interrupted ; oar women 
and children shot at by a merciless soldiery ; our towns 
pillaged ; our citizens robbed, and some of them assassi- 
nated and murdered. 

" No effort has been spared to deter the Union men of 
East Tennessee from the expression of their free thoughts. 
The penalties of Treason have been threatened against 
them, and murder and assassination have been openly 
encouraged by leading secession journals. As secession 
has been thus overbearing and intolerant while in the 
minority in East Tennessee, nothing better can be expected 
of the pretended majority than wild, unconstitutional, and 
oppressive legislation ; an utter contempt and disregard 
of law, a determination to force every Union man in the 
State to swear to the support of a constitution he abhors, 
to yield his money and property to aid a cause he detests, 
and to become the object of scorn and derision, as well as 
the victim of intolerable and relentless oppression." 

These are some of the wrongs that we are enduring in 
that section of Tennessee ; not near all of them, but a few 
which I have presented that the country may know what 
we are submitting to. Since I left my home, having only 
one way to leave the State, through two or three passes 
coming out through Cumberland Gap, I have been advised 
that they had even sent their armies to blockade these 
passes in the mountains, as they say, to prevent Johnson 
from returning with arms and munitions to place in the 
hands of the people to vindicate their rights, repel invasion, 
and put down domestic insurrection and rebellion. Yes, 
sir, there they stand in arms, environing a population of 
three hundred and twenty-five thousand loyal, brave, 
patriotic, and unsubdued people ; but yet powerless, and 
not in a condition to vindicate their rights. Hence I 
come to the Government, and I do not ask it as a sup- 
pliant, but I demand it as a constitutional right, that you 



LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 87 

give us protection, give us arms and munitions ; and if 
they cannot be got there in any other way, to take them 
there with an invading array, and deliver the people from 
the oppression to which they are now subjected. We 
claim to be the State. The other divisions may have 
seceded and gone oif ; and if this Government will stand 
by and permit those portions of the State to go off, and 
not enforce the laws and protect the loyal citizens there, 
we cannot help it ; but we still claim to be the State, and 
if two-thirds have fallen otf, or have been sunk by an 
earthquake, it does not change our relation to this 
Government. If the Government will let them go and 
not give us protection, the fault is not ours; but if you 
give us protection we intend to stand as a State, as a part 
of this Confederacy, holding to the Stars and Stripes, the 
flag of our country. We demand it according to law ; we 
demand it upon the guarantees of the Constitution. You 
are bound to guarantee to us a republican form of govern- 
ment, and we ask it as a Constitutional right. We do 
not ask you to interfere as a party, as your feelings or 
prejudices may be one way or another in reference to the 
parties of the country ; but we ask you to interfere as a 
Government, according to the Constitution. Of course we 
want your sympathy, and your regard, and your respect ; 
but we ask your interference on Constitutional grounds. 

The amendments to the Constitution, which constitute 
the Bill of Rights, declare that " a well-regulated militia 
being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of 
the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.-' 
Our people are denied this right secured to them in their 
own Constitution and the Constitution of the United 
States ; yet we hear no complaints here of violations of the 
Constitution in this respect. We ask the Government to 
interpose to secure us this Constitutional right. We want 
the passes in our mountains opened, w^e want deliverance 
and protection for a down-trodden and oppressed people 
who are struggling for their independence without arms. 

If we had had ten thousand stand of arms and ammunition, 
when the contest commenced, we should have asked no further 
assistance. We have not got them. We are a rural people ; 
we have villages and small towns — no large cities. Our 
population is homogeneous, industrious, frugal, brave, 
independent ; but now harmless, and powerless, and op>. 



88 LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 

pressed bj usurpers. You may be too late in coming to 
our relief; or you may not come at all, though I do not 
doubt that you will come ; they may trample us under 
foot ; they may convert our plains into graveyards, and the 
caves of our mountains into sepulchres ; but they will 
never take us out of this Union, or make us a land of 
slaves — no, never ! We intend to stand as tirm as adamant, 
and as unyielding as our own majestic mountains that 
surround us. Yes, we will be as fixed and as imrnovable 
as are they upon their bases. We will stand as long as 
we can ; and if we are overpowered and liberty shall be 
driven from the land, we intend before she departs to take 
the flag of our country, with a stalwart arm, a patriotic 
heart, and an honest tread, and place it upon the summit 
of the loftiest and most majestic mountain. We intend 
to plant it there, and leave it, to indicate to tlie inquirer 
who may come, in after times, the spot wliere the Goddess 
of Liberty lingered and wept for tlie lust time, before she 
took her flight from a people once prosperous, free, and 
happy. 

We ask the Government to come to our aid. We love 
the Constitution as made by our fathers. We have con- 
fidence in the integrity and capacity of the people to govern 
themselves. We have lived entertaining these opinions ; 
we intend to die entertaining them. The battle has com- 
menced. The President has placed it upon the true ground. 
Jt is an issue on the one hand for the people's Govern- 
ment, and its overthrow on the other. We have com- 
menced tlie battle of freedom. It is freedom's cause. We 
are resisting usurpation and oppression. We will triumph ; 
we must triumph. Right is with us. A great and funda- 
mental principle of right, that lies at the foundation of all 
things, is with us. We may meet with impediments, and 
may meet with disasters, and here and there a defeat ; but 
ultimately freedom's cause must triumph, for — 

" Free'lom's battle once begun, 

Beciueiiihed froiu bleeding sire to son, 
Though baffled oft, is ever won." 

Yes, we must triumph. Though sometimes T cannot see 
my way clear in matters of this kind, as in matters of re- 
ligion, when my facts give out, when my reason fails me, I 
draw largely upon my faith. My faith is strong, based on 



LIFE AND SEKVICES OF ANDEEW JOHNSON. 89 

the eternal principles of right, that a thing so monstrously 
wrong as this rebellion cannot triumph. Can we submit to 
it ? Is the Senate, are the American people, prepared to 
give up the graves of Washington and Jackson, to be en- 
circled and governed and controlled by a combination of 
traitors and rebels ? I say, let the battle go on — it is free- 
dom's cause — until the Stars and Stripes (God bless tliemi) 
shall again be unfurled upon every cross-road, and from 
every house-top throughout the Confederacy, North and 
South. Let the Union be reinstated ; let the law be en- 
forced ; let the Constitution be supreme. 

If the Congress of the United States were to give up the 
tombs of Waslii.ngton and Jackson, we should have rising 
up in our midst another Peter the Hermit, in a much more 
righteous cause — for ours is true, while his was a delusion — 
who would appeal to the American people, and point to 
the tombs of Washington and Jackson, in the possession 
of those who are worse than the infidel and the Turk who 
held the Holy Sepulchre. I believe the American people 
would start of their own accord, when appealed to, to re- 
deem the graves of Washington and Jackson and Jefferson, 
and all the other patriots who are lying within the limits 
of the Southern Confederacy. I do not believe they would 
stop the march until again the flag of this Union would be 
placed over the graves of those distinguished men. There 
will be an uprising. Do not talk about Republicans now; 
do not talk about Democrats now ; do not talk about Whigs 
or Americans now ; talk about your country and the Con- 
stitution and the Union. Save that ; preserve the integ- 
rity of the Government ; once more place it erect among 
the nations of the earth ; and then if we want to divide 
about questions that may arise in our midst, we have a 
Government to divide in. 

I know it has been said that the object of this war is to 
make war on Southern institutions. I have been in free 
States and I have been in slave States ; and I thank God 
that, so far as I have seen, there has l3een one universal 
disclaimer of any such purpose. It is a war upon no sec- 
tion ; it is a war upon no peculiar institution ; but it is a 
war for the integrity of the Government, for the Constitu- 
tion and the supremacy of the laws. That is what the na- 
tion understands by it. 

The people whom I represent appeal to the Government 



90 LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 

and to the nation to give us the Constitutional protection 
that we need. I am proud to say that I have met with 
every manifestation of that kind in the Senate, with only a 
few dissenting voices. I am proud to say, too, that I be- 
lieve Old Kentucky (God bless her !) will ultimately rise and 
shake off the stupor which has been resting upon her ; and 
instead of denying us the privilege of passing through her 
borders, and taking arms and munitions of war to enable a 
down-trodden people to defend themselves, will not only 
give us that privilege, but will join us and help us in the 
work. The people of Kentucky love the Union ; they 
love the Constitution ; they have no fault to find with it ; 
but in that State they have a duplicate to the Governor of 
ours. When we look all around, we see how the Gover- 
nors of the different States have been involved in this con- 
spiracy — the most stupendous and gigantic conspiracy that 
was ever formed, and as corrupt and as foul as that at- 
tempted by Catiline in the days of Rome. We know it to 
be so. Have we not known men to sit at their desks in 
this chamber, using the Government's stationary to write 
treasonable letters ; and while receiving their pay, sworn 
to support the Constitution and sustain the law, engaging 
in midnight conclaves to devise ways and means by which 
the Government and the Constitution should be over- 
thrown ? The charge was made and published in the 
papers. Many things we know that we cannot put our 
fingers upon ; but we know from tlie regular steps that 
were taken in this work of breaking up the Government, 
or trying to break it up, that there was system, concert of 
action. It is a scheme more corrupt than the assassination 
planned and conducted by Catiline in reference to the 
Roman Senate. The time has arrived wlien we should 
show to the nations of the earth that we are a nation capable 
of preserving our existence, and give them evidence that 
we will do it. 

I have already detained the Senate much longer than I 
intended when I rose, and I shall conclude in a few words 
more. Although the Government has met with a little 
reverse within a short distance of this city, no one should 
be discouraged and no heart should be dismayed. It ought 
only to prove the necessity of bringing forth and exerting 
still more vigorously the power of the Government in 
maintenance of the Constitution and the laws. Let the 



LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 91 

energies of the Government be redoubled, and let it go on 
with this war — not a war upon sections, not a war upon 
peculiar institutions anywhere ; but let the Constitution 
and the Union be its frontispiece, and the supremacy and 
enforcement of the laws its watchword. Then it can, it 
will, go on triumphantly. We must succeed. This Gov- 
ernment must not, cannot fall. Though your flag may 
have trailed in the dust; though a retrograde movement 
may have been made ; though the banner of our country 
may have been sullied, let it still be borne onward ; and if, 
for the prosecution of this war in behalf of the Govern- 
ment and the Constitution, it is necessary to cleanse and 
purify the banner, I say, let it be baptized in fire from the 
sun and bathed in a nation's blood ! The nation must be 
redeemed ; it must be triumphant. The Constitution — 
which is based upon principles immutable, and upon which 
rest the rights of man and the hopes and expectations of 
those who love freedom throughout the civilized world — 
must be maintained. 

THE WAR IN TENNESSEE-JOHNSON'S PER- 
SONAL EXPERIENCES. 

The whole utterances of Senator Johnson were not 
mere ad captandum speeches, not mere "buncombe." 
His State, had at an early stage of the rebellion, been 
rushed out of the Union, almost without form of law, 
and certainly without the will of the people having been 
consulted. Mob violence reigned supreme. The lives of 
loyal men were sacrificed, their property was confiscated, 
and their families were hunted from their homes like wild 
beasts. In Middle and West Tennessee, loyalty gave 
way at the first outbreak of rebellious feeling, and treason 
flourished unchecked. In East Tennessee, that Switzer- 
land of America, the case was different. Andrew John- 
son, and thousands of sturdy patriots like him, had their 
homes amid the mountains of that region, and they pre- 
served their love of the old flag untainted by the seces- 
sion heresy. Whenever the question of the Union was 



92 LIFE A^"D SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON". 

at issue, East Tennessee, under the lead of men liko 
Johnson, voted almost unanimously for the Union and 
the old flag. When the rebels occupied that section, and 
began hanging and shooting the Unionists, they still 
clung to their patriotic principles, and either hid in caves 
and dens, longing for the advent of the Union troops, or 
else escaped into the Federal lines and joined the ranks 
of the Union army. No such romantic histories have 
been known in modern times as the adventures of the 
gallant East Tennesseeans who resisted the brutalities of 
the rebels, and finally saw the old flag once more wave 
over the crags of their mountain-homes. Early in Feb- 
ruary, 18G2, the army under Major-General Grant ad- 
vanced into Tennessee, and won the great victories of 
Fort Henry and Fort Donelson. The rebels were thus 
forced to evacuate Bowling Green, Ky., and Nashville 
was rendered untenable. The rebel government of Ten- 
nessee was therefore removed to Memphis. On Febru- 
ary 23d, 1862, the rebel troops evacuated Nashville, and 
on the 25th the city was occupied by the Federal advance. 
A large portion of the State having now been re-captured, 
President Lincoln nominated Andrew Johnson as Mili- 
tary Governor of Tennessee, with the rank of Brigadier- 
General of Yolunteers. 

ANDREW JOHNSON AS MILITARY GOVERNOR 
OF TENNESSEE. 

On the 5th of March, 1862, the Senate confirmed the 
nomination. On the 12th of that month. Governor John- 
son reached Nashville, aud the next evening he responded 
to a serenade, in an address, which he afterwards pub- 
lished as "An Appeal to the People of Tennessee."" In 
the course of this address he sketched the history of the 
Secession movement, and showed how the government 
of the commonwealth had been wrecked, for the time, by 



LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 9 



o 



its leaders. He said that the Government of the United 
States could do no less than guarantee Tennessee a Re- 
publican form of government, and that his work was to 
accomplish that purpose. He promised that the rights 
of the people should be respected, and their wrongs re- 
dressed ; that the loyal should be honored, and the erring 
and misguided should be welcomed on their return ; 
intelligent and conscious treason should be punished, but 
no merely vindictive or retaliatory policy should be 
adopted. This line of policy was carried out by Gov. 
Johnson, with excellent effect, and from a condition of 
anarchy, Tennessee again put on an aspect of quiet and 
comparative prosperity. The Union men held Conven- 
tions, which had the effect of organizing and strengthen- 
ing sound sentiments. Of course, while the State con- 
tinued to be the arena of vast military movements, 
thorough re-organization could not be looked for, but 
Governor Johnson did all that genius, courage and un- 
wavering patriotism could accomplish. From a diary 
kept during the early portion of Governor Johnson's 
administration, we extract the following interesting facts : 

April 28, 1862. — Governor Johnson was called upon to- 
day by one William Davis, formerly a noted secessionist, 
who desired permission to ship one hundred and fifty bales 
of cotton from Arkansas through the federal lines to Cairo. 
"Have you taken the oath?" ''Yes, I have taken the 
oath, and given np the whole secession concern." Per- 
mission to ship was granted by the Governor. On inqui- 
ring of Davis, " Are the owners burning their cotton where 
you come from ?" " No, they are not such fools." On this 
day we were shown, in the State Department, some inter- 
cepted secesh letters from East Tennessee — one of which 
advised the selection of Tennessee regiments to do the 
hanging of loyalists, as the employment of Mississippiaus 
*' might arouse prejudices." Another letter, dated Louis- 
ville, June 3, 1861, was from George N. Sanders to General 
S. R. Anderson, proposing the sale of certain pieces of 



91: LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 

ordnance to the rebels. Another letter, dated Rogersville, 
Ky., July 1, 1861, appeals to General Anderson to " send 
arms, for we are surrounded and almost overrun with Union 
men." This was encouraging news to Governor Johnson 
and friends at this critical juncture. 

Ajjril SO.' — Ex-Governor Wm. B. Campbell, Hon. Wm. 
B. Stokes, Hon. Bailie Peyton, Col. Wm. H. Polk and 
other prominent Union citizens, are in town to night, con- 
sulting with Governor Johnson in relation to the best means 
of restoring Tennessee to the Union. The Governor is in 
favor of exercising the most rigorous measures against 
ultra-secessionists, the principal point of which is their per- 
petual banishment from the State, without the privileges of 
taking the oath of allegiance. Arrangements were made 
for a great Union mass convention, to be held in the Capi- 
tol in a week or two. 

As an evidence that the secesh do not mean to relinquish 
their hold upon their property here without a struggle, an 
incident that occurred will furnish proof: — Mrs. Washing- 
ton Barrow, wife of a very rich and prominent secessionist, 
now undergoing sentence of banishment, appealed to Gov- 
ernor Johnson to know by what right certain claims of hers 
on the river front were infringed upon ? "By the right of 
conquerors," quietly replied the Governor. The lady did 
not press the subject, as there was danger of her entire 
property being confiscated. 

May 1. — A number of secesh sympathizing merchants 
are here settling accounts with secesh, and giving' them en- 
couragement. Governor Johnson thinks "there are enough 
secesh South without importing others from the North." 
In course of conversation to-day, in the Governor's apart- 
ments, a Unionist related the following anecdote of Alex- 
ander H. Stephens, Vice-President of the Confederacy. 
Stephens was asked by a Unionist — " Can you answer your 
own Union speech ?" " No." " Why did you desert us, 
then ?" Stephens replied — " To prevent the Toombs men 
from plunging their daggers into the hearts of the Stephens 
men, and to prevent the Stephens men from plunging theirs 
into the hearts of the Toombs men." About the same 
time it was stated that certain prominent secesh had taken 
the oath prescribed by Governor Johnson. One of the 

doubtful kind approached Colonel , who had recently 

subscribed to the oath, and said, — '' Well, Colonel, I hear 



LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 95 

you'^Ye jined. Is it so?" "Yes." "Well, I guess I'll 
jine, too," and took the oath amid some merriment, the 
Governor himself relaxing the usual rigidity of his features 
at the quaint remark. 

3Iay 12. — To day was a great day for Nashville, and for 
Governor Johnson as the leader and champion of the 
Union phalanx in Tennessee. A very large mass Conven- 
tion was held in the House of Representatives, at which 
ex-Governor Campbell presided. After speeches by several 
prominent Union men, Governor Johnson was loudly called 
for. The moment he made his ap{)earance there was one 
universal shout of welcome. All present seemed to con- 
gratulate themselves on having a leader of so determined 
a mein in this crisis as the man who now stood before them. 
The delegates from the country districts seemed electrified 
by his presence, and, as one remarked, who was forced by 
the presence of the multitude to crowd upon our elbow as 
we were taking a few notes of the proceeding, " Andy 
Johnson's got the people with him, that's a fact." After 
the tumult of applause had subsided. Governor Johnson 
proceeded to address the audience. His remarks occupied 
three hours' time, and covered a large portion of the field 
of his present operations, with magnanimous references to 
incidents of the past, hope in the present, and confidence 
in the future. He said he now felt it the proudest moment 
of his life to stand here, under the Stars and Stripes, and 
on the platform of the Union with those who had differed 
with him politically. Taking the hand of the President 
of the meeting, Governor Campbell, and shaking it warmly, 
he repeated his heartfelt congratulations upon the auspi- 
cious event, and upon the prospect of a speedy restoration 
of Tennessee to the Union. He continued : — If the Union 
goes down, we go down with it. There is no other fate 
for us. Our salvation is the Union, and nothing but the 
Union. The only inquiry must be, are you for the Union, 
and willing to swear that the last drop of your blood shall 
be poured out in its defence ? {Applause long continued.) 
He would say to others that he would toil through moun- 
tains, through valleys, through plains, at night and by day, 
and all his exertions should be toward the restoration of 
Tennessee to her former relations with the Federal Gov- 
ernment. 

The effect of the following passage in his speech was 
6 



96 LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 

profound and thrilling : — " Treason must be punished, or, 
rather, treason must be crushed out and traitors must be 
punished. Intelligent, conscious traitors must be punished. 
Not the great mass who have been forced under conscrip- 
tion into the Southern armies. We say to tliem, return to 
your allegiance and no punishment shall be inflicted. But 
to those who brought this sea of blood upon our land, who 
arrayed brother against brother, we say to the conscious, 
intelligent traitor, you will be punished." And some of 
his auditors leaped to their seats in the phrenzy of their 
agitation as he uttered the closing words of the fol- 
lowing : — 

What confidence should Tennesseans have in Jeflf. Davis? 
How long is it since he attempted to tarnish the fair fame 
of Tennessee ? In secret session the people of Tennessee 
were lashed to the car of his hybrid, despotic government. 
Tennesseans are now in the dungeons of Alabama, bouno 
in irons and fed on rotten meat and diseased bones. No 
sound comes to cheer tliem ; no sound to relieve them of 
their sad and weary confinement, save the clanking of thy 
chains that confine them. What sin, what crime, what 
felony have tliey committed? None! None! In the 
name of God, none, except that they love the flag of their 
country. {Great oppiauae.) There is one question, con- 
tinued Governor Johnson, placing much stress upon his 
observations, which underlies all others at this juncture — I 
say what I know, I know what I say and feel — that is, the 
struggle to i\now whether man is capable of self-govern- 
ment, whether man can govern himself. He believed that 
the question of slavery was made the pretext for breaking 
up the government, in order to establish a monarchy. He 
referred to South Carolina as having inaugurated " this 
infamous, diabolical, damnable rebellion," and deducted 
from the fact that the tories in that State, during the 
Revolutionary war, had proposed arrangements for a 
restoration to vassalage under that power, that they were 
ready for a return to a monarchy and the establishing of an 
aristocracy that should control the masses. {Sen.-ialio7i.) 
In support of this view Governor Johnson presented the 
fact that one of the leading inducements of separation was 
the hope of succor, recognition and lielp from Great 
Britain and France. Separation ! he exclaimed — separate 
from the United States, and what does South Carolina, or 
any other of the seceded original States do but fall back to its 



LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 97 

original colonial condition ? — to the condition of vassalage 
to Queen Victoria ? Shall we overlook these things in the 
great clamor for Southern rights ? Jeff. Davis, Toombs, 
Iverson, Benjamin and Wigfall, he pronounced conspirators 
worse than those of Rome. Will you, he asked of the 
men of Tennessee, become vassals to these men ? He ap- 
pealed to those who had a recollection of the sires of the 
Revolution, of those deeds which taught them to revere 
the memories of the past ; to the times when the blood 
spouted from the heels of tliose who, barefooted, made lone 
and weary marches, through snow and over frozen rivers, 
to achieve their independence from foreign domination, to 
answer. {Applause.) Are you willing, he asked, to quail 
before treason and traitors, and surrender the best govern- 
ment the world ever saw? (Cries of "Never, never.") 
Although the revolution has run rampant, it has not over- 
come a people who know that there is a redeeming spirit, 
a returning sense of justice abiding in the hearts of the 
great mass of the people. He compared the present dark- 
ness and depression of the Union men to the lava that, 
issuing from the crater of Vesuvius, had receded only to 
return in a volume of liquid fire and sweep over the land. 
There is, he said ,a redeeming spirit coming over the land. 
In the forests — and there are many here who can under- 
stand the simile — the murmurs of the coming storm can be 
heard before the storm breaks forth in its fury. He heard 
the murmurs of that coming storm now. It was returning 
to crush out treason and rebellion. 

Referring to the cry for Southern rights, he exclaimed : 

Southern rights I Why, a man in South Carolina is 
not eligible to a seat in the Legislature unless he owns 
ten negroes and is possessed of £500 freehold property. 
Where's that man, he asked, who wants his rights in the 
Territories ? Why don't he go to South Carolina ? Would 
he be allowed to become a member of the Legislature ? 
No. I doubt whether he would be allowed to darken the 
doors of the capitol. Governor Johnson said if he should 
go there himself he would not be eligible to a seat in the 
lower house of the Legislature. It required the ownership 
of ten negroes for eligibility. He only owned nine, or did 
once own them ; but they have since been confiscated by 
the Southern Confederacy, and they have them now. They 



98 LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 

went to his home, where his wife was sick, and his child, 
eight months old, consuming with consumption. They 
turned his wife and child into the streets, and converted 
his house, built with his own hands, into a hospital and 
barracks. His servants being confiscated, it was with 
great diflBculty and much suffering that his wife and little 
boy were enabled to reach the house of a relative, many 
miles distant. Call you this Southern rights ? If so, God 
preserve me from another such infliction. (The audience 
were silent as the tomb as the Governor related this portion 
of his personal experience. The sensation was profound.) 
Proceeding, he said he did not wish to be understood as con- 
veying the idea that Tennessee was out of the Union. She had 
no right to go out, no more than you have to apply the torch 
to a building without asking the consent of your adjoin- 
ing neighbor. She is not out, she is still an integral part 
of the Union. When the rebellion is put down she will 
stand in her relations as she stood before — one of the bright- 
est stars in the galaxy of Federal States. {Continued ap- 
plause.) The Governor concluded by paying his respects 
to the female portion of the secession population in Xash- 
ville. He said that when a woman shall uusex herself she 
must be met in the character she assumes. He regretted 
that there were so few Union women in Nashville. Why 
should the women oppose the Union ? We want their 
assistance. He believed that by women's influence many 
men have been induced to join the Confederates. (Voices 
—"Yes, hundreds," "thousands.") The Governor paid a 
beautiful and eloquent tribute to woman in her natural and 
appropriate sphere. Though there were but few Union 
women now in Nashville, he looked forward to the time 
when there will be plenty ; to the time when scenes of 
blood and carnage, the smoke and dust of battle, shall 
cease ; to the time when the dove will come, and the stars 
of the morning shall sing, and a Saviour shall proclaim 
"Peace on earth, good will to man." 

3Iay 24. — Immediately following the Union mass meet- 
ing in Nashville, arrangements were made to get up an- 
other in the interior of the State, in Aiurfreesboro, Ruther- 
ford county — a region that had been the hotbed of secesh. 
It came oS" to-day. We left Nashville, in company with 
Governor Johnson and one of the Governor's aids. Not 
apprehending any difficulty from guerillas, no guard ac- 



LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHXSON. 99 

companied the train. We reached Murfreesboro about 
nooQ, and by invitation repaired to the residence of Mr. 
Jordan, a Union citizen, where a bountiful dinner was pre- 
pared. We then repaired to the court-house, where, placinsj 
a couple of boards on the heads of barrels, a platform 
was prepared outside the building, and after addresses from 
the presiding ofl&cer, Hon. Wm. Spence, and Hon. Ed- 
mund Cooper, of Shelbyville, Governor Johnson was intro- 
duced. The audience was a queer mixture of blue coats 
and butternuts. The latter stood listlessly inside the rail- 
ing of the court-house yard, and even the spirited and 
eloquent remarks of Mr. Cooper could not arouse them 
from their incomprehensible state of listlessness. But as 
Governor Johnson proceeded they began to exhibit more 
interest and attention. He seemed to know where and 
how to touch the hearts of the Tennesseeans and make them 
vibrate with patriotic emotions. In emphatic words he 
urged the deluded and erring Union men, who had by force 
or choice joined the rebel armies, to return to their alle- 
giance, and to all, except to the " intelligent and conscious 
traitor," would amnesty be granted. Over the whole field 
of local — and a great proportion of national — politics did 
this inflexible and indefatigable exponent and defender of 
the Constitution and the Union proceed, and for three 
hours and more enlist the attention of his auditors. It 
was a sight to observe the sway he seemed to have over 
them as exhibited in their physiognomies and actions. 
Now they would lend silent and immovable attention ; 
again, as a striking fact or forcible and pertinent illustra- 
tion would present itself, they would burst into a laugh 
and applaud with approving cries of " Good for Andy," 
" That's the talk," etc. And when he particularly alluded 
to his own sufferings and to those of others, and to the 
horrors that encompassed a continuance of the rebellion, 
tears were shed by more than one stout and stalwart Ten- 
nesseean. 

June 2. — The Union meetings inaugurated in Nashville 
are being followed up. One was held to-day in Columbia. 
It was addressed by Governor Johnson and Xeil S. Brown, 
the first appearance of the latter on the Union platform 
this season. An apprehended accident, whether premedi- 
tated or otherwise, came near putting a stop to Governor 
Johnson's appearance as a speaker. Taking a carriage, 



100 LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 

with one of his aids, at the railroad depot for the hotel, 
with a small escort of soldiery, the horses, from some cause 
or other, took fright as the carriage was passing up a hill 
at the edge of a steep embankment, and suddenly turned 
nearly around. Governor Johnson's quick eye discovered 
the movement, and in a moment he opened the carriage 
door and landed upon terra firma, followed by the other 
occupants of the vehicle. Had the carriage overturned at 
the spot, and the danger was imminent, there is no know- 
ing what damage might have ensued. As it was, the Gov- 
ernor concluded not to try a similar experiment ; for there 
was no calculating what mischievous or dastardly tricks 
the secessionists of the vicinity might undertake in order 
to wreak their vengeance upon him, and he concluded to 
walk the remainder of the distance, about a mile and a half. 

The meeting was held in a market space, under a build- 
ing used for some local official purpose. Mounted upon 
a butcher's block — the stump of a huge oak tree — Gov- 
ernor Johnson delivered another of his impassioned ad- 
dresses to the soldiers and citizens present. His appeal 
was earnest in behalf of the Union, and he implored his 
fellow citizens in that part of Tennessee to unite with him 
in restoring their glorious old State back to the endearing 
arms of the Federal Union. Hon. Neil S. Brown also 
spoke in behalf of a Union restored, declaring that the 
rebellion was played out. Much disappointment was felt 
at the non-appearance at the meeting of Colonel Wm. H. 
Polk, brother of the late President Polk, who was instru- 
mental in getting it up. 

June 1. — Following the meeting at Columbia came an- 
other at Shelbyville to-day, by far the most significant 
since the mass convention in Nashville last month. The 
meeting was held in the fair grounds, and from three to 
fiour thousand persons, including many ladies, were pres- 
ent. Speeches were made by Governor Johnson, Mr. 
Wiscner (President), and Colonel Scudder, once a secesh, 
now a strong Unionist. It was an enthusiastic and demon- 
strative gathering. Colonel Scudder was an interesting 
feature of this occasion. The colonel said he entertained 
southern views and had gone for separation. He believed 
it now to be the duty of every citizen to submit to the 
Government. He regarded the position now as that of 
two fellows engaged in a free fight. They pitched in and 



LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 101 

one got a thrashing. That was the South, and it should 
acknowledge the fact. Colonel S. was inspector-general 
under the secesh Governor Isham G. Harris. He was in 
the Mexican war, and lost an eye in the battle of Monte- 
rey, under the then Colonel W. B. Campbell, afterwards 
Governor of Tennessee. 

Juyie 18. — The clergymen of this city, with the excep- 
tion of the Catholic (and even the Catholic Bishop Whee- 
lan, thinks the South never can be brought back into the 
Union), are almost to a man secessionists. They, unfortu- 
nately for themselves, are not quietly so ; but preach trea- 
son every Sabbath from their pulpits. Having been re- 
quired by Governor Johnson to step up to the ofBce of 
the Secretary of State and subscribe to the oath of allegi- 
ance, they obeyed the summons so far as attending the 
office was concerned, but no further. The interview was 
interesting, and bears being further described, even to 
repetition. 

As Governor Johnson entered the room, he shook hands 
familiarly with two or three of the reverend congregation. 
Others did not seem inclined to shake hands with him, nor 
he with them. Although of a religious turn of mind, and 
a respecter of the doctrines of an enlarged spirit of Chris- 
tianity, it was the first time Governor Johnson had had 
the opportunity of mingling in so influential a class-meet- 
ing — one representing such diverse sectarian tenets. Per- 
fectly composed, he entered into the midst of them, and 
said, " Well, gentlemen, what is your desire ?" 

Rev. Mr. Sehon — I speak but for myself. Governor ; I 
do not know what the other gentlemen wish. My request 
is that I may have a few days to consider the subject of 
signing the paper. I wish to gather my family together, 
and talk over the subject. 

Gov. Johnson — How long a time will you require ? 

Rev. Mr. Sehon — My wife is at some distance, and my 
family having recently labored under a severe domestic 
affliction, I would, if you have no objection. Governor, have 
fourteen days allowed me for the purpose of gathering my 
family together. 

Rev. Mr. Ford — That is not to be understood to be the 
request of all of us. 

Rev. Mr. Sehon — Oh, no. Governor. We have been 
conversing on the subject, and I did not know but that it 



102 LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 

would be desirable to have a mutual consultation before 
we again met. 

Rev. Mr. Howell — I did not so understand the brother. 

Kev. Mr. Kendrick — Nor I. We can come as well 
singly as together. 

Rev, Mr. Saurie — I did not so understand the proposi- 
tion. 

Rev. Mr. Sehon — It was a bare suggestion, and the ob- 
ject might have been misapprehended by the brethren. 

Gov. Johnson — It seems to me that there should be but 
little hesitation among you, gentlemen, about the matter. 
All that is required of you is to sign the oath of allegiance. 
If you are loyal citizens you can have no reason to refuse 
to do so. If you are disloyal, and working to obstruct tho 
operations of the government, it is my duty, as the repre- 
sentative of that government, to see that you are placed in 
a position so that the least possible harm can result from 
your proceedings. You certainly cannot reasonably refuse 
to renew your allegiance to the government that is now 
protecting you and your families and property. 

Rev. Mr. Elliott — As a non-combatant. Governor, I con- 
sidered that under the stipulations of the surrender of this 
city I should be no further annoyed. As a non-combatant, 
I do not know that I have committed an act, since the 
federals occupied the city, that would require me to take 
the oath required. 

Gov. Johnson — I believe, Mr. Elliott, you have two 
brothers in Ohio. 

Mr. Elliott — Yes, Governor, I have two noble brothers 
there. I have seen them but on occasional visits for thirty- 
four years. They have been good friends to me. They 
did not agree with me in the course I pursued in regard to 
secession. But I have lived in Tennessee so many years 
that I have considered the State my home, and am willing 
to follow her fortunes. Tennessee is a good State. 

Gov. Johnson — I know Tennessee is a good State ; and 
I believe the best way to improve her fortunes is to remove 
those from her borders who prove disloyal and traitors to 
her interests, as they are traitors to the government that 
has fostered and protected them. I think, Mr. Elliott, a 
visit to your brothers in Ohio will prove of service to you. 

Rev. Mr. Elliott — I do not know whenever I have been 



LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 103 

proven disloyal. I am no politician, and never attended 
but one political meeting, and never but once perpetrated 
a political joke. 

Gov. Johnson — Perhaps not, sir. But by your inflamma- 
tory remarks and conversation, and by your disloyal be- 
havior in weaning the young under your charge from their 
allegiance to the government established by their fathers, 
you have won a name that will never be placed on the roll 
of patriots. A visit to the North, I repeat, may be of bene- 
fit to you. (Sensation.) 

Rev. Mr. Kendrick (after reading the oath) — I would 
like a few days' time before I sign this paper, Governor. 

Gov. Johnson — How long do you require ? 

Kev. Mr. Kendrick — Just as you please, Governor. One, 
two or three days, or a week. 

Gov. Johnson — A week from to-day. 

Rev. Mr. Kendrick — Yes, Governor, say a week. 

The other clergymen vv^ere inquired of in regard to the 
time they required to make up their minds, and it was gen- 
erally agreed that they, within a week, would be prepared 
to either renew their allegiance or make preparations for 
their departure. This was the understanding with all the 
clergymen, with the exception of the Rev. Mr. Elliott, with 
whom a time for a private interview was assigned by Gov- 
ernor Johnson. 

The physicians — Drs. B. W. Hall, and A. H. Ford — re- 
mained after the clergymen departed. Dr. Hall was re- 
ported as having said in a public speech, on the night of the 
fall of Fort Donaldson, that " the Penitentiary should be 
cleared of its inmates and their places occupied by Union 
citizens." He was also accused of introducing a resolution 
in a public meeting embracing sentiments trespassing heav- 
ily upon the rights of Union citizens. 

Gov. Johnson talked to him with some severity, which 
excited some resentful emotions in the breast of the doctor. 
He said : — 

" Governor Johnson — I know you have a grudge against 
me, and you are now gratifying your revenge." 

Governor Johnson — I have no reason to gratify any re- 
sentment I may entertain towards you, sir. 

Dr. Hall — Why have you no reason ? 

Governor Johnson — Because I consider you too con- 
temptible to excite an emotion of resentment in any one. 



104 LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 

Dr. Hall at this moment jumped suddenly upon liis feet, 
and we did not know what would happen next. The doc- 
tor was angry ; but the determined demeanor of Governor 
Johnson disarmed him if he did entertain hostile intentions. 
The Governor then turned quietly on his heel and returned 
to his private room. 

June 28. — To-day the clergymen signified to Governor 
Johnson their determination not to take the oath, and were 
sent to the Penitentiary prior to their removal to General 
Halleck to be exchanged for Union prisoners. The Catholic 
church will therefore be the only one opened for services to- 
morrow (Sunday). 

October 12. — Quite a sensation has been produced by 
the arrival in Nashville of Governor Johnson's family, 
after incurring and escaping numerous perils while making 
their exodus from East Tennessee. The male members of 
the family were in danger of being hung on more than one 
occasion. They left Bristol, in the extreme Northeastern 
section of the State, on the Virginia line, by permission of 
the rebel War Department, accompanied by a small escort. 
AVherever it became known on the railroad route that Andy 
Johnson's family were on the train, the impertinent curiosity 
of some rebels was only equalled by the clamor of others 
for some physical demonstration on Johnson's sons. Ar- 
riving at Murfreesboro, they were met by General Forrest 
and his force. Forrest refused to allow them to proceed, 
and they were detained some time, until Isham G. Harris 
and Andrew Ewing, noted rebels, telegraphed to Richmond 
and obtained a peremptory order allowing them to proceed. 
The great joy at the reunion of this long and sorrowfully 
separated family may be imagined. I will not attempt to 
describe it. Even the Governor's Roman sternness was 
overcome, and he wept tears of thankfulness at this merci- 
ful deliverance of his beloved ones from the hands of their 
uupitying persecutors. Mrs. Johnson is now the mistress 
of the Governor's residence, a princely mansion formerly 
occupied by ex-Governor and ex-United States Postmaster 
General Aaron V. Brown. 

It will be remembered that in September, October, and 
November, 1862, the rebels threatened Nashville, and for 
a considerable period cut off its communications with the 



LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 105 

North. We quote the following interesting accounts of 
Governor Johnson's movements, during this trying time : 

September 2, 1862. — The city (Nashville) is filled with 
alarm and apprehension. General Buell has evacuated 
Huntsville, Stevenson, Battle Creek, Dechard, all North 
Alabama and Southern Tennessee, and is on his way to 
Nashville, not, it is said, because any enemy pressed him 
in the front, but because the enemy (Bragg) had flanked 
him, moved north, and is now north of his position. Gov- 
ernor Johnson deplores this wholesale desertion of the 
country, and does not concur with General Buell as to its 
propriety. It is evident the two do not agree. 

September 5. — The enemy has recaptured Murfreesboro. 
General Biiell has arrived in Nashville, General Rousseau 
in command. 

September 6. — The city is in a state of great consterna- 
tion on account of the current report that General Buell 
had deteruuned upon the evacuation of Nashville, when 
the rumor reached Governor Johnson, he exclaimed, 
" What, evacuate Nashville, and abandon our Union 
friends to the mercy of these infernal hounds? Why, 
there is not a secessionist in town who would not laugh to 
see every Union man shot down in cold blood by rebel 
soldiers if they come here." He protests against an evac- 
uation or a surrender without a fight. He would destroy 
the city rather than leave it to the enemy. General 
Thomas arrives at a critical period and takes command. 
He sustains Governor Johnson, and Nashville is neither 
evacuated nor destroyed. Thus for a second time has 
Governor Johnson saved the city by his matchless firmness 
and indomitable decision of character. Not only has he 
again saved the city, but the lives of hundreds of Union 
men and millions of government property. Union refugees 
in most sickening plight are arriving from the South. 
They report the most horrible outrages by guerillas. 

September 11. — Governor Johnson's policy regarding 
the holding of Nashville prevails. General Thomas has 
received instructions from the highest authority to hold 
the city at all hazards. The city is being rapidly fortified. 
Secessionists are bolder than ever. The negroes say their 
masters openly express their belief in the early occupation 
of the place by the rebels. One darkey asked to-day, 



106 LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 

" Massa , am de secesh done gone for good ?" In 

explanation he said, liis master had told him to get ready 
for a jollification, for their turn was coming again soon. 

Septemher 30. — Communication with the outer world is 
cut off. We are surrounded by the enemy. A siege has 
commenced. Things look gloomy. The work of forti- 
fying goes on briskly, and if the enemy give us two weeks 
more time we can defy them. Captain Morton, Engineer, 
United States army, has two thousand contrabands at 
work on St. Cloud hill erecting fortifications. That splen- 
did grove has been cut down. The Asylum for the Blind, 
erected at the cost of forty thousand dollars, has been 
blown up, on a " new principle," as Captain Morton ex- 
pressed it. Every building gives way to make play for 
the guns of Fort Negley. 

October t. — General James S. Negley is now in com- 
mand. To-day he ordered an attack upon the rebel forces 
under General S. R. Anderson at Lavergne, a few miles 
distant. It was a surprise, and quite successful. Among 
the captures was Colonel Harry Maury. [Late in com- 
mand at Mobile.] The enemy reoccupied the place shortly 
after our leaving it. 

October 8. — No communications for a month. Parties 
attempt to leave in flatboats and canoes, but are captured 
by guerillas before they get fairly out of the city. Rations 
getting scarce. People getting uneasy. Hotels closed for 
want of supplies. Correspondence captured by guerillas. 
No use writing. Governor Johnson takes every thing coolly, 
hoping for the best. 

October 21. — Days, weeks, nay months, roll around, and 
there seems to be no change for the better in this important 
city. Cut off from communications with the outer world, 
our supplies becoming exhausted, deprived of almost all 
articles of luxury, and even comfort, and subject to the ill- 
disguised sneers and taunts of Union haters, our lot is a 
hard one. But, notwithstanding all this, there is no falter- 
ing among the garrison that holds the city against the 
rebel hosts reported to be menacing us. Governor John- 
son's wise and energetic measures, coupled with the activity 
of General Negley, inspires courage and confidence among 
Union men. We hear that Breckinridge is around us with 
fifty thousand men ; that Anderson, mortified at his defeat 



LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 107 

at Lavergne, declares that he can and will capture the city ; 
and Forrest, incensed from the same cause, roughly swears 
that he will have Nashville at all hazards, it he falls him- 
self at the first fire. But those who are in the confidence 
of Governor Johnson know that the enemy, if they should 
capture the city, will achieve an empty triumph, amid black- 
ened and crumbling ruins. The coolness and calmness of the 
Governor amid these trying scenes are beyond all praise. He 
does all he can to preserve order ; but, notwithstanding this, 
midnight assassinations are frequent. There were six mur- 
ders one night recently. The other day a party belonging 
to an Illinois regiment broke down the door of a room in 
which were a secessionist and his mistress. The secession- 
ist shot and killed two of the lUinoians. The exasperation 
of their comrades cannot be portrayed. A rope was pro- 
cured, and the nearest lamp post would have witnessed the 
unfortunate man's end but for the interference of Colonel 
Stanley and a strong detachment of soldiers. Amid the 
wildest excitement he was taken before Governor Johnson's 
Provost Marshal, Colonel Gillem, at the Capitol, and se- 
cured against the results of mob violence. Although the 
act was calculated to lessen Governor Johnson's popularity 
with the troops, he unhesitatingly endorsed the conduct of 
Colonel Gillem, declaring that there was a legal and proper 
way to punish the offender, and so long as he had the 
power he would see it enforced. These facts are mentioned 
to show Governor Johnson's sense of justice and his deter- 
mination to exercise it under the most trying circumstances. 
Novembej^ 4. — The enemy have made several attempts to 
drive in our pickets, without material loss on either side. 
A rebel siege train has arrived at the Lunatic Asylum, 
about three miles from the city, where the enemy have thrown 
up intrenchmeuts. A rebel attempt to capture the city by 
a coup de main in the rear has been thwarted by the timely 
action of General Negley. Great activity prevails at the 
Capitol. Governor Johnson, with his private secretary, 
Mr. Browning ; one of his aids, Mr. Lindley ; Provost 
Marshal Gillem ; Captain Abbott, First Tennessee battery ; 
Assistant Provost Marshal B. C. Trueman ; Volunteer 

Aid Mr. , together with the officers of the Governor's 

bodyguard, the First Tennessee infantry, under command 
of Colonel Gillem, are on duty night and day at the Gov- 
ernor's room, ready for any service the Governor may re- 



108 LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 

quire. * * * All hands are engaged in cleaning fire- 
arms, sliarpening cutlasses, etc. Four Rodman guns have 
been placed in position to defend the Capitol, which is also 
protected by lines of earthworks and breastworks of cotton 
bales. The capitol will be defended to the last extremity. 
The cool and determined demeanor of Governor Johnson 
is the admiration of all. 

November^ 5. — The enemy made two attacks on Nash- 
ville to-day. One attack was made by Morgan, on the 
Edgefield side of the river, with a view, probably, of destroy- 
ing the new railroad bridge. Morgan was repulsed with 
considerable loss. About the same time the enemy, under 
Forrest, approached the city by four routes, viz : — the 
Franklin, Murfreesboro, Lebanon and Nolansville pikes. 
They were in great strength, and seemed bent on capturing 
the city. General Negley and Governor Johnson deter- 
mined they sliould not. Fort Negley prepared to welcome 
them, with the Tenth Illinois as a garrison. Forts Brown- 
ing and Liudsley, and the two enfilading works, known as 
Forts Trueman and Glenn, were garrisoned by the gallant 
Nineteenth Illinois and detachments of other regiments. 
Fort Andrew Johnson, (the Capitol) was garrisoned by the 
First Tennessee, Colonel Gillem, with a reserve of artillery 
under command of Captain Abbott, of the First Tennessee 
battery. Governor Johnson and staff, including our cor- 
respondent, took position in the cupola of the Capitol, and 
had a splendid view of the conflict going on about two miles 
distant. At one time, when the firing was most furious, 
and the smoke partly concealed a view of the combat, it 
seemed that the Sixty-ninth Ohio, Colonel Casselly, and 
the Seventy-eighth Pennsylvania, Colonel Sewell, who were 
^n the advance, had been defeated, and were under full re- 
treat for the shelter of the fortifications. This was an ex- 
citing moment for the spectators in the cupola of the Cap- 
itol, although there was not a blanched cheek among the 
grou|) that surrounded Governor Johnson. It was here the 
Governor made the remark in that forcible manner he is 
accustomed to when he means a thing — " I am no military 
man ; but any one who talks of surrendering I will shoot." 
What was apprehended to be a repulse of our troops proved 
to be simply a strategic movement of General Negley's ; 
hiv in a few minutes the entire Union force rallied, and willi 
colors tlyiiig, dashed tempestuously, liorse, foot and artillery, 



LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 109 

amid the thunder of the big guns of the forts, upon the be- 
fore exultant foe. The enemy appeared to be thunder- 
struck. They came to a standstill, fired a few shots, and 
then turned and wildly fled. The rout was complete. 
Thus was raised the siege of Nashville, and the city for a 
third time was saved by the inflexible firmness of Governor 
Johnson, aided by the bayonets of the flower of American 
soldiery. 

November 14. — General Rosecrans arrived to-day, with 
heavy reinforcements, as commander of the army of the 
Cumberland. He issued a congratulatory order to Gene- 
ral Negley for his gallant defence of Nashville, and held a 
consultation with Governor Johnson. Communications 
are now once more re-opened, and after an embargo of 
some two months (from September 15 to November 14) 
Nashville again becomes a city within the confines of civili- 
zation. During these exciting scenes — during the dread- 
ful dulness of interrupted communications, failing supplies, 
and a lack of any kind of amusements, it would not be 
strange if some tempers should seek solace in conviviality. 
But, from first to last, Governor Johnson was a model of 
abstemiousness. He never played cards for amusement 
or gain. He never indulged in drink on any single occa- 
sion to a greater extent than possibly a clergyman would 
at a sacrament ; and, as for the smaller vices, he was free 
from them all. His whole aims and objects, his entire 
aspirations, seemed to centre in the re-establishment of the 
authority of tlie Federal Government over his State, her 
speedy return to the Union, protection of loyal citizens in 
all parts of the State, and punishment of " conscious and 
intelligent traitors" wherever found. 

The world knows the result of the siege of Nashville, 
and the disastrous defeat of the rebels has now passed 
into history. 

After the retreat of General Bragg from Murfreesboro, 
in July, 1863, West and Middle Tennessee were entirely 
under Federal control. Burnside then advanced into 
East Tennessee and drove the rebels out. A convention 
was held at Nashville, in September, to consider the re- 
storation of Tennessee to the Union. Governor Johnson 



110 LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 

thus expressed his views on that question : Tennessee 
is not out of the Union, never has been, and never will be 
out. The bonds of the Constitution and the Federal 
power will always prevent that. This Government is 
perpetual ; provision is made for reforming the Govern- 
ment and amending the Constitution, and admitting 
States into the Union ; not for letting them out of it. 
* * * The United States sends an agent or a mili- 
tary garrison, whichever you please, to aid you in re- 
storing your Government. Whenever you desire, in good 
faith, to restore civil authority, you can do so, and a pro- 
clamation for an election will be issued as speedily as it 
is practicable to hold one. * * * This is no nice 
metaphysical question. It is a plain common-sense mat- 
ter, and there is nothing in the way but obstinacy. 

The provisional Gov^ernment created by the President, 
continued throughout the year, and on the 26th of Janu- 
ary, 1864, Governor Johnson issued his proclamation for a 
State election. Up to this time about twenty-five thou- 
sand Union citizens entered the army, and several colored 
regiments were organized. 

JOHNSON'S DETERMINATION. 

The character of Andrew Johnson cannot be fully 
weighed unless his origin, purposes, political career and 
individual courage are estimated at their true value. An 
able writer has thus compared his position with that of 
the fugitive traitor, Jefferson Davis : *' The country will 
remember the courageous impromptu speech in the United 
States Senate, which Senator, now President, Johnson 
rose and delivered in immediate reply to Jefferson Davis, 
when the baffled rebel chief took his farewell, and sought 
to demonstrate the inability of our Government to execute 
its properly constituted will upon the people of all th* 
States. Senator Johnson then stood alone. The con 



LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON, 111 

Bpirators had resorted to every method known to them for 
the purpose of bending the inflexibility of his resolution to 
stand by his country, but when they found that they had 
only failed, they visited him with open derision and con- 
tempt. He charged them with it at the time, and has left 
it upon record that he felt its temporary effect, although 
only to resist and not to yield to the sting. Since that 
striking scene in the Senate chamber, when the predeter- 
mined chief of the rebellion was boldly confronted, an- 
swered and denounced by the Tennessee Senator, great 
changes have taken place. Well may we use the language 
of the poet, in referring especially to the changed relations 
of the two actors in that scene, and speak of the ' whirl- 
igigs of time.' Davis has been, and we suppose still con- 
tinues to style himself, the President of a Rebel Confed- 
eracy, which notoriously has no existence but its name ; 
Johnson is to-day the President of the United States, 
whose sacred authority he stepped forward to defend 
against Davis and against traitors everywhere. And it 
may be that, as Chief Magistrate of the nation, he will 
yet be summoned to execute punishment upon the leader 
in rebellion whom, but four years ago, he solemnly and 
patriotically warned of the consequences of his threatened 
treason. The former is a fugitive, with his countrymen 
formed into a body of voluntary police to pursue and cap- 
ture him : the latter is the Executive of the nation, upon 
whom would devolve the duty of visiting the last punish- 
ment denounced by the laws on so great a criminal. The 
contrast between the positions of these two men, who 
separated with such pregnant words on the floor of the 
Senate, is too striking not to provoke more than a passing 
remark. It is one of those lessons in the history of justice 
which is too impressive to be forgotten. The man who 
was jeered at by the knot of recreants that crowded 
around to intimidate the sturdiness of his patriotism, now 
7 



112 LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 

has it in his power to speak their doom, unless a kinder 
fortune shall pilot them into the dreary paths of an igno- 
minious exile. He who stood fast when all around him 
wavered, now beholds the braggart calumniators of his 
country and himself, fleeing in every direction for their 
lives, outcasts and fugitives, abandoned by the people 
whom they have so fatally deluded, hating one another, 
and, above all, dreading the swift sureness of that retrib- 
utive justice whose decrees no man or set of men can out- 
rage with impunity. There is certainly contained in this 
history a lesson in favor of the truth and the right." 

One further incident of Mr. Johnson's Tennessee career 
will not be out of place. 

One gentleman, a political opponent of the Governor, an 
eye-witness of the occurrence, told us that a placard was 
posted in Nashville, one morning, announcing in the well 
known language of old Tennessee, that Andy Johnson was 
to be shot " on sight." Friends of the Governor assembled 
at his house to escort him to the State House. "No," 
said he, " gentlemen, if I am to be shot at, I want no man 
to be in the way of the bullet." He walked alone and 
with his usual deliberation through the streets to his 
official apartments on Capitol Hill. Another eye-witness 
related a similar story. He was announced to speak on 
one of the exciting questions of the day, and loud threats 
were uttered that if he dared to appear he should not 
leave the hall alive. At the appointed hour, he ascended 
to the platform, and advancing to the desk laid his pistol 
upon it. He then addressed the audience, in terms as 
near like the following as our informant could recollect ; 
"Fellow-citizens, it is proper when freemen assemble for 
the discussion of important public interests, that everything 
should be done decently and in order. I have been in- 
formed that part of the business to be transacted on the 
present occasion is the assassination of the individual who 



LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 113 

now has the honor of addressing you. I beg respectfully 
to propose this be the first business in order. Therefore, 
if any man has come here to-night for the purpose indi- 
cated, I do not say to him, let him speak, but let him shoot." 
Here he paused with his right hand on his pistol, and the 
other holding open his coat, while with his eyes he blandly 
surveyed the assembly. After a pause of half a minute, he 
resumed : " Gentlemen, it appears that I have been misin- 
formed. I will now proceed to address you on the subject 
that has called us together," which he did, with all his 
accustomed boldness and vivacity, not sparing his adversa- 
ries, but giving them plenty of pure Tennessee. Tailor as 
he was, he is no snob. Soon after he was inaugurated 
Governor of Tennessee, a high official of the State, who 
had been bred a blacksmith, presented him with a set of 
elegant fire-irons, made with his own hands. " I will 
give him a return in kind," remarked the Governor. He 
bought some of the finest black broadcloth that Nashville 
could furnish, procured a set of tailor's implements, got 
the judges measure from his tailor, and made a complete 
suit of clothes, setting every stitch himself, and presented 
them to his friend. The work, we are told, was all done 
in the Governor's room in the State House. The happy 
wearer of the garments pronounced them a perfect fit, and 
when we heard the story, in 1858, he had them still. 

NOMINATED FOR VICE-PRESIDENT. 

The loyal people of the nation had watched the majestic 
course of the brave and patriotic Johnson, and he was 
destined to "go up higher" in their regards. When 
the National Union Convention met at Baltimore in June, 
1864, to nominate candidates for President and Yice- 
President, to oppose Major General McClellan and Hon. 
G. H. Pendleton of Ohio, who had been nominated by the 
Democratic party, a platform was adopted, on the Tth of 



114 LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 

the month, which was of so broad, liberal and compre- 
hensive a nature, that every patriot in the land could 
accept and stand upon it. On the 8th of June, 18G4, Abra- 
ham Lincoln was with one voice renominated for Presi- 
dent, and with equally astonishing unanimity, Andrew 
Johnson was chosen on the first ballot, as candidate for 
Vice-President. The entire country hailed these nomina- 
tions with spontaneous outbursts of delight. Those who 
had, through disaster and victory clung to and hoped for 
the triumph of the old flag, avowed with genuine joy that 
in the hands of such men as Lincoln and Johnson, the 
honor of the Republic was safe, both from treason at 
home and from the malignant hate of foreign enemies. 
Mr. Johnson had been known as equally a foe to domestic 
traitors and to foreign despots, and his nomination was a 
war note of defiance to every hater of American institutions, 
across the Atlantic. 

On the 10th of June, 1864, Mr. Johnson, then at Nash- 
ville, w^as waited on by a host of personal and political 
friends, and from the St. Cloud hotel he made a stirring 
address, endorsing the Union platform, and accepting the 
nomination which had spontaneously been tendered him. ^ 

LINCOLN'S OPINION OF JOHNSON. 

On the day before the meeting of the Baltimore Con- 
vention, Marcus L. Ward, of New Jersey, a delegate to 
that body, and subsequently a most efficient member of 
the Republican National Executive Committee, waited 
upon Mr. Lincoln, and solicited an expression of his 
preference as to the "Vice-Presidential candidate to be 
nominated by that convention. The President, while 
declaring that he could not be expected to avow any 
distinct preference for any of the gentlemen named in 
that connection, referred frankly to the merits of each, 
including Messrs Dickinson and Hamlin, and dwelt 



LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSOX. 115 

especially upou the claims of Andrew Johnson, whom he 
characterized as eminently a man for the times — capable, 
honest, and of inflexible loyalty and indomitable will, 
whose selection for Yice-President would afford him (Mr. 
Lincoln) supreme satisfaction. Mr. Ward left the Presi- 
dent with the strong conviction that no man in the 
country possessed his esteem and confidence more entirely 
than Mr. Johnson. At a subsequent interview, after the 
Presidential election, the President reiterated all he had 
previously said in Mr. Johnson's praise, remarking that 
the country owed him a debt of gratitude for his un- 
shrinking sacrifice and heroic labors in its behalf, which 
could never be paid. He still felt that he had in the new 
Vice-President one whose aid would be of inestimable 
value in the work before him. No man, he said, had a 
right to judge Andrew Johnson in any respect, who had 
not suffered as much and done as much as he had for the 
nation's sake. 

Mr. Lincoln's praise was none too high for the subject 
of his eulogy. Every loyal man could say " Amen 1" 

THE PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION. 

The election on the Lith of November, 1864, resulted 
in the election of Lincoln and Johnson by the grandest 
majority ever given to any candidates since the days of 
Washington. Every loyal State, save three, gave over- 
whelming majorities for the standard bearers of the Union 
party, and the Democratic party was apparently crushed 
into annihilation. 

SWORN IN AS VICE-PRESIDENT. 

On the 4th of March, 1865, at the Capitol in Washing- 
ton city, Abraham Lincoln again took the oath of office 
as President of the United States. On the same occasion, 
Andrew Johnson took the oath as Vice-President, and 



116 LIFE AND SEKVICES OF ANDEEW JOHNSON. 

in assuming the duties and responsibilities of the position, 
delivered the following inaugural address : 

INATJGUBAL ADDRESS. 

Senators — I am here to-day as the chosen Yice-Presi' 
dent of the United States, and as such, by constitutional 
provision I am made the presiding officer of this body. I 
therefore present myself here in obedience to the high be- 
hests of the American people to discharge a constitutional 
duty, and not presumptuously to thrust myself in a position 
so exalted. May I at this moment — it may not be irrele- 
vant to the occasion — advert to the workings of our insti- 
tutions under the Constitution which our fathers framed 
and Washington approved, as exhibited by the position in 
which I stand before the American Senate, in the sight of 
the American people ? Deem me not vain or arrogant ; 
yet I should be less than man if under such circumstances 
I were not proud of being an American citizen, for to-day 
one who claims no high descent, one who comes from the 
ranks of the people, stands, by the choice of a free con- 
stituency, in the second place of this Government. There 
may be those to whom such things are not pleasing, but 
those who have labored for the consummation of a free 
Government will appreciate and cherish institutions which 
exclude none, however obscure his origin, from places of 
trust and distinction. The people, in short, are the source 
of all power. You, Senators, you who constitute the bench 
of the Supreme Court of the United States, are but the 
creatures of the American people ; your exaltation is from 
them ; the power of this Government consists in its near- 
ness and approximation to the great mass of the people. 
You, Mr. Secretary Seward, Mr. Secretary Stanton, the 
Secretary of the Navy, and the others who are your asso- 
ciates — you know that you have my respect and my confi- 
dence — derive not your greatness and your power alone 
from President Lincoln. Humble as I am, plebeian as I 
may be deemed, permit me in the presence of this brilliant 
assemblage to enunciate the truth that courts and cabinets, 
the President and his advisers, derive their power and their 
greatness from the people. A President could not exist 
here forly-eight hours if he were as far removed from the 
people as the autocrat of Russia is separated from his sub 



LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 117 

jects. Here the popular heart sustains President and Cab- 
inet officers ; the popular will gives them all their strength. 
Such an assertion of the great principles of this Govern- 
ment may be considered out of place, and I will not con- 
sume the time of these intelligent and enlightened people 
much longer ; but I could not be insensible to these great 
truths when I, a plebeian, elected by the people the Vice- 
President of the United States, am here to enter upon the 
discharge of my duties. For those duties I claim not the 
aptitude of my respected predecessor. Although I have 
occupied a seat in both the House of Representatives and 
the Senate, I am not learned in parliamentary law, and I 
shall be dependent on the courtesy of those Senators who 
have become familiar with the rules which are requisite for 
the good order of the body and the dispatch of its busi- 
ness. I have only studied how I may best advance the 
interests of my State and of my country, and not the tech- 
nical rules of order ; and if I err I shall appeal to this 
dignified body of representatives of States for kindness 
and indulgence. 

Before I conclude this brief inaugural address in the 
presence of this audience — and I, though a plebeian boy, 
am authorized by the principles of the Government under 
which I live to feel proudly conscious that I am a man, and 
grave dignita^ries are but men — before the Supreme Court, 
the representatives of foreign governments. Senators and 
the people, desire to proclaim that Tennessee, whose rep- 
resentative I have been, is free. She has bent the tyrant's 
rod, she has broken the yoke of slavery, and to-day she 
stands redeemed. She waited not for the exercise of power 
by Congress ; it was her own act, and she is now as loyal, 
Mr. Attorney-General, as is the State from which you 
came. It is the doctrine of the Federal Constitution that 
no State can go out of this Union ; and moreover Con- 
gress cannot reject a State from this Union. Thank God, 
Tennessee has never been out of the Union ! It is true 
the operations of her government were for a time inter- 
rupted ; there was an interregnum ; but she is still in the 
Union, and I am lier representative. This day she elects 
her Governor and her Legislature, which will be convened 
on the first Monday of April, and again her Senators and 
Representatives will soon mingle with those, of her sister 
States ; and who shall gainsay it, for the Constitution re- 



118 LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 

quires that to every State shall be guaranteed a republican 
form of government ? 

I now am prepared to take the oath of office and renew 
my allegiance to the Constitution of the United States. 

INDICATIONS OF JOHNSON'S POLICY. 

On the third of April, 1865, Vice-President Johnson was 
called upon, with other distinguished men at Washington, 
to utter rejoicings at the fall of Richmond and the sub- 
stantial close of the rebellion. Mr. Johnson said, in 
presence of a. vast concourse of jubilant citizens : 

As I have been introduced I will make one or two re- 
marks, for I feel that no one would be justified in attempt- 
ing to make an address on such an occasion, when the ex- 
citement is justly at so great a height. 

We are now, my friends, winding up a rebellion — a great 
effort that has been made by bad men to overthrow the 
Government of the United States — a Government founded 
upon free principles, and cemented by the best blood of 
the Revolution. (Cheers.) You must indulge me in 
making one single remark in connection with myself. At 
the time that the traitors in the Senate of the United 
States plotted against the Government and entered into a 
conspiracy more foul, more execrable, and more odious 
than that of Catiline against the Romans, I happened to 
be a member of that body, and, as to loyalty, stood soli- 
tary and alone among the Senators from the Southern 
States. 

I was then and there called upon to know what I could 
do with such traitors, and I want to repeat my reply here. 
I said, if we had an Andrew Jackson he would hang them 
as high as Haman, but as he is no more, and sleeps in his 
grave in his own beloved State, where traitors and treason 
have even insulted his tomb and the very earth that covers 
his remains, humble as I am, when you ask me what I 
ivould do, my reply is, I would arrest them — I would try 
them — I would convict them, and I would hang them. 

As humble as I am and have been, I have pursued but 
one, undeviatiiig course. All that I have — life, limb and 
property — have been put at the disposal of the country in 
this great struggle. I have been in camp, I have been in 



LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 119 

the field, I have been everywhere where this great rebellion 
was ; I have pursued it until I believe I can now see its 
termination. Since the world began, there never has been 
a rebellion of such gigantic proportions, so infamous in 
character, so diabolical in motive, so entirely disregardful 
of the laws of civilized war. It has introduced the most 
savage mode of warfare every practiced upon the earth. 

I will repeat here a remark, for which I have been in no 
small degree censured. What is it, allow me to ask, that 
has sustained the nation in this great struggle ? The cry- 
has been you know, that our Government was not strong 
enough for a time of rebellion ; that in such a time she 
would have to contend against internal weakness as well as 
internal foes. We have now given the world evidence that 
such is not the fact ; and when the rebellion shall have 
been crushed out, and the nation shall once again have 
settled down in peace, our Government will rest upon a 
more enduring basis than ever before. 

But, my friends, in what has the great strength of this 
Government consisted. Has it been in one-man power? 
Has it been in some autocrat, or in some one man who held 
absolute government ? No ! I thank God I have it in my 
power to proclaim the great truth, that this Government 
has derived its strength from the American people. They 
have issued the edict; they have exercised the power that 
has resulted in the overthrow of the rebellion, and there 
is not another government upon the face of the earth that 
could have withstood the shock. 

We can now congratulate ourselves that we possess the 
strongest, the freest and the best Government the world 
ever saw. Thank God that we have lived through this 
trial, and that, looking in your intelligent faces here to-day, 
I can announce to you the great fact that Petersburg, the 
outpost to the strong citadel, has been occupied by our 
brave and gallant officers and our untiring, invincible sol- 
diers. And not content with that, they have captured the 
citadel itself — the stronghold of traitors. Richmond is 
ours, and is now occupied by the forces of the United 
States ! Her gates have been entered, and the glorious 
stars and stripes, the emblem of Union, of power, and of 
supremacy, now float over the enemy's capitol I 

In the language of another, let that old flag rise higher 
and higher, until it meets the sun in his coming, and let the 



120 LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 

parting day linger to play upon its ample folds. It is the 
flag of your country, it is your flag, it is my flag, and it 
bids defiance to all the nations of the earth, and the en- 
croachments of all the powers combined. It is not my 
intention to make any imprudent remarks or allusions, but 
the hour will come when those nations that exhibited to- 
ward us such insolence and improper interference in tlie 
midst of our adversity, and, as they supposed, of our weak- 
ness, will learn that this is a Government of the people 
possessing power enough to make itself felt and respected. 

In the midst of our rejoicing, we must not forget to drop 
a tear for those gallant fellows who have shed their blood 
that their Government must ti'iumph. We cannot forget 
them when we view the many bloody battle-fields of the 
war, the new-made graves, our maimed friends and rela- 
tives, who have left their limbs, as it were, on the enemy's 
soil, and others who have been consigned to their long nar- 
row houses, with no winding sheet save their blankets satu- 
rated with their blood. 

One word more, and I have done. It is this : I am in 
favor of leniency ; but, in my opinion, evil-doers should be 
punished. [Cries of " That's so."] Treason is the high- 
est crime known in the catalogue of crimes, and for him 
that is guilty of it— for him that is willing to lift his im- 
pious hand against the authority of the nation — I would 
say death is too easy a punishment. My notion is that 
treason must be made odious, and traitors must be punished 
and impoverished, their social power broken, though they 
must be made to feel the penalty of their crime. You, my 
friends, have traitors in your very midst, and treason needs 
rebuke and punishment here as well as elsewhere. It is not 
the men in the field who are the greatest traitors. It is 
the men who have encouraged them to imperil their lives, 
while they themselves have remained at home, expending 
their means and exerting all their power to overthrow the 
Government. Hence I say this : " the halter to intelligent, 
influential traitors." But to the honest boy, to the deluded 
man who has been deceived into the rebel ranks, I would 
extend leniency ; I would say, return to your allegiance, 
renew your support to the Government, and become a good 
citizen; but the leaders 1 would hang. I hold, too, that 
wealthy traitors should be made to remunerate those men 
who have suflered as a coiisec|uencu of their crime — Union 



LIFE AND SEKVICES OF ANDREW JOnNSON. 121 

men who have lost their property, who have been driven 
from their homes, beggars and wanderers among strangers. 
It is well to talk about these things here to-day, in ad- 
dressing the well-informed persons who compose this audi- 
ence. You can, to a very great extent, aid in moulding 
public opinion, and in giving it a proper direction. Let 
us commence the work. We have put down these traitors 
in arms, let us put them down in law, in public judgment, 
and in the morals of the world. 

THE MARTYRDOM OP ABRAHAM LITiCOLISr. 

In bringing the incidents of Andrew Johnson's career 
up to the month of April, 1865, we have not dwelt at 
length on battles, campaigns, or any of the dread pomp 
and circumstance of war. Listening Senates had hung 
upon his breath, and rude crowds of backwoodsmen had 
heard him with wonder and admiration. Yet he had not 
wielded the sword of the warrior, nor had he, with a 
stroke of the pen, raised or demolished mighty chieftains, 
as had Abraham Lincoln. Under the grand and patient 
management of Mr. Lincoln the war had progressed for 
four years. Every shade of fortune, from mid-day bright- 
ness to midnight gloom had befallen the nation. At last 
the Republic and the world saw the end approaching. 
The Lieutenant-General commanding the armies in the 
field had so wound his gigantic web around the region 
occupied by the rebels, that the crushing of their power 
forever was but a question of time. State after State, 
city after city, line of communication after line of communi- 
cation had fallen into our hands. The terribly bloody and 
protracted march and fight from the Rapidan to the south 
side of James river had been followed, in this very month, 
by the fall of Petersburg. Lee had telegraphed to Jeffer- 
son Davis at the capital of rebeldom " My lines are broken ; 
Richmond j^iust be evacuated to-night ;" and the direction 
had been obeyed. The city of Richmond once more saw 
the stars and stripes ; Lee's army had surrendered ; Sher- 



122 LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 

man was, after his magnificent march from Atlanta to the 
Atlantic, closing in on the last great rebel army on the 
east side of the Mississippi. At this hour Abraham Lin- 
coln, who had watched Grant's campaign from a station 
as near as City Point, penetrated to Richmond and de- 
voted himself to the reconstruction of the Union. With 
a heart full of love for the entire nation, Mr. Lincoln, who 
had granted Lee's army terms of unparalleled lenity, re- 
turned to the city of Washington. The entire nation 
bowed down before his greatness of soul and before the 
splendor of his genius. On the evening of the 14th of 
April, 1865, he, in company with Mrs. Lincoln and two 
other friends, visited Ford's theatre, in Washington. 
About ten o'clock on that night, the assassin, John Wilkes 
Booth, stole into the President's box, and while he was 
enjoying the play, shot him through the head. A desper- 
ate attempt was made at the same hour to assassinate 
William H. Seward, Secretary of State, then an invalid. 
Amid the consternation of nearly every soul in the city 
of Washington, for the news flew like wild fire. President 
Lincoln was removed to a private residence near the the- 
atre, where, at twenty minutes after seven o'clock, on the 
morning of April 15, 1865, he expired, amid the lamenta- 
tions of an entire nation. We forbear to describe the pall 
of gloom which instantly overspread America, from the 
Gulf to the St. Lawrence, when the details of this enor- 
mous tragedy became known. We wish not to follow 
the gloomy flight of the assassin. Booth, and his death in 
Virginia by the weapon of an Union soldier. We pass to 
the consequences of this terrible crime. 
"^ By this act of horror, the assassin and those who insti- 
gated the crime, hoped to plunge the nation into anarchy, 
and, even if the rebellion was waning, to make one effort 
to save its desperate future. They failed ! No confusion 
ensued. No lawless hand was raised against the Govern- 



LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 123 

ment. The constitutional requirements were complied 
with, without an hour's delay. The American people, 
though reeling under the shock of the tremendous blow 
dealt them, retained their noble confidence in free insti- 
tutions, and calmly submitted to the operations of the 
laws, which like those governing the heavenly bodies, 
move majestically on, regardless of human passion. 

THE CABINET ANNOUNCEMENT TO PRESI- 
DENT JOHNSON. 

On Saturday morning, April 15th, 1865, at an early 
hour, Attorney-General Speed waited upon Andrew 
Johnson, Yice-President of the United States, and offi- 
cially informed him of the sudden and unexpected de- 
cease of President Lincoln, and requested that an early 
hour might be appointed for the inauguration of his suc- 
cessor. The following is a copy of the official commu- 
nication referred to : 

Washington City, April, 15, 1865. 
Andrew JonNSON, Vice-President of the United States. 

Sir : Abraham Lincoln, President of the United 
States, was shot by an assassin last evening at Ford's 
theatre, in this city, and died at the hour of twenty-two 
minutes after seven o'clock. About the same time at 
which the President was shot, an assassin entered the 
sick chamber of Hon. W. H. Seward, Secretary of State, 
and stabbed him in several places in the throat, neck and 
face, severely, if not mortally, wounding him. Other 
members of the Secretary's family were dangerously 
wounded by the assassin, while making his escape. 

By the death of President Lincoln, the office of Presi- 
dent has devolved, under the Constitution, upon you. 
The emergency of the Government demands that you 
should immediately qualify according to the requirements 
of the Constitution, and enter upon the duties of Presi- 
dent of the United States. If you will please make 
known your pleasure, such arrangements as you deem 
proper will be made. 

Your Obedient Servants, 
Hugh McCulloch, Secretary of the Treasury; Edwin 



124 LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 

M. Stanton, Secretary of War ; Gideon Welles, Se- 
cretary of the Navy ; William Dennison, Pod-Master- 
General ; J. P. Usher, Secretary of the Interior ; 
James Speed, Attorney -General. 

Mr. Johnson in reply, requested that the ceremony 
might taVe place at his rooms, in the Kirkwood House, 
at 10 o'clock, A. M., the same day. 

Hon. Salmon P. Chase, Chief Justice of the United 
States, was notified of Mr. Johnson's wish, and stated 
his intention to be present and administer the oath of 
office. 

At the appointed hour the following gentlemen assem- 
bled in the Yice-President's room to participate in the 
ceremony : 

Hon. Salmon P. Chase; Hon. Hugh McCulloch, 
Secretary of the Treasury; Attorney- General Speed; 
F. P. Blair, Senior ; Hon. Montgomery Blair ; Sena- 
tor Foot, of Vermont; Senator Yates, of Illinois; 
Senator Hamsey, of 3Iinnesota ; Senator Stewart, of 
Nevada; Senator Hale, of New Hampshire; General 
Farnsworth, of Illinois. 

After the presentation of these persons, the Chief Jus- 
tice administered the following oath to Mr. Johnson : 

" I do solemnly swear that I will faithfully execute the 
office of President of the United States, and will, to the 
best of my ability, preserve, protect, and defend the Con- 
stitution of the United States. " 

After receiving the oath, Mr. Johnson remarked : 

ADDRESS OF PRESIDENT JOHNSON. 

Gentlemen — I must be permitted to say that I have 
been almost overwhelmed by the announcement of the 
sad event which has so recently occurred. I feel incom- 
petent to perform duties so important and responsible as 
those which have been so unexpectedly thrown upon me. 
As to an indication of any policy which may be pursued 



LIFE AND SERVICES OF AXDREW JOHNSON. 125 

by me in the ad mini strati on of the government, I have to 
say, that that must be left for development as the admin- 
istration progresses. The message or declaration must be 
made by the acts as they transpire. The only assurance 
that I can now give of the future, is by reference to the 
past. The course which I have taken in the past in con- 
nection with this rebellion, must be regarded as a guar- 
antee of the future. My past public life, which has been 
long and laborious, has been founded, as I in good con- 
science believe, upon a great principle of right, which 
lies at the basis of all things. The best energies of my 
life have been spent in endeavoring to establish and per- 
petuate the principles of free government, and I believe 
that the government, in passing through its present trials, 
will settle down upon principles consonant with popular 
rights more permanent and enduring than heretofore. I 
must be permitted to say, if I understand the feelings of 
my own heart, I have long labored to ameliorate and 
alleviate the condition of the great mass of the American 
people. Toil, and an honest advocacy of the great prin- 
ciples of free government, have been my lot. The duties 
have been mine — the consequences are God's. This has 
been the foundation of my political creed. I feel that in 
the end the government will triumph, and that these great 
principles will be permanently established. In conclusion, 
gentlemen, let me say that I want your encouragement 
and countenance. I shall ask and rely upon you and 
others in carrying the government through its present 
perils. I feel, in making this request, that it will be 
heartily responded to by you, and all other patriots and 
lovers of the rights and interests of a free people. 

At the conclusion of the above remarks, the President 
received the kind wishes of the friends by whom he was 
surrounded. A few moments were devoted to conversa- 
tion. All were deeply impressed with the solemnity of 
the occasion, and the sad occurrence that caused the 
necessity for the speedy inauguration of the President 
was gravely discussed. 

The first official act of the newly-appointed President, 
was bis attendance at a Cabinet meeting held at the 



126 LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 

Treasury department on the morning of his inauguration. 
Secretary Seward then being in a dangerous state from 
the stab of the assassin, President Johnson appointed 
William Hunter, Esq., chief clerk of the State Depart- 
ment, Acting Secretary of State. 

The importance of the crisis, at which Providence had 
suddenly thrown Andrew Johnson, from the compara- 
tively secondary position of Yice-President, to that of 
President of the United States of America, can scarcely 
be realized at this period when we are so near the start- 
ling event which led to his elevation. We may say this, 
however, with confidence, that President Johnson thor- 
oughly comprehended the importance of the era, and his 
bearing was that of a man fully alive to all that, in the 
imminent perils which hung over the nation, might sud- 
denly change the entire aspect of national affairs, and 
which might possibly impel him to a sterner exercise of 
sovereignty than that dreamed of by any President who 
had ever occupied the White House. The great question 
of re-construction rose up suddenly before the new Presi- 
dent. All his former predilections asserted their claims. 
All his wrongs, from the leaders of the rebellion, cla- 
mored with a thousand tongues, ''like Ate, for revenge." 
The fiercer " radicals" were at hand to urge the bloodiest 
instructions, and to claim that the lenient wishes of Mr. 
Lincoln were such as would shame justice and create 
future anarchy. The murderous assassins of the late 
President and the Secretary of State, were, with one 
exception, unpunished. A. pause in national policy had 
supervened — and in the hush, every man in the nation 
listened for the oracle. The army of General Lee having 
surrendered, the only great rebel force on the eastern 
side of the Mississippi was that of General Joseph E. 
Johnston, which, as w^e have before mentioned, General 
W. T. Sherman was closing in upon. In this position 



LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 143 

public justice whicli should guide our action at this par- 
ticular juncture, and whicli accord with sound public 
morals. Let it be engraven on every heart that treason 
is a crime, and traitors shall suffer its penalty. (Ap- 
plause.) While we are appalled, overwhelmed at the 
fall of one man in our midst by the hand of a traitor, 
shall we allow men — I care not by what weapons — to at- 
tempt the life of a State with impunity ? While we strain 
our minds to comprehend the enormity of this assassina- 
tion, shall we allow the nation to be assassinated ? (Ap- 
plause.) I speak in no spirit of unkindness. I leave 
the events of the future to be disposed of as they arise, 
regarding myself as the humble instrument of the Ameri- 
can people. In this, as in all things, justice and judgment 
shall be determined by them. I do not harbor bitter or 
revengeful feelings towards any. In general terms I 
would say that public morals and public opinion should 
be established upon the sure and inflexible principles of 
justice. (Applause.) When the question of exercising 
mercy comes before me it will be considered calmly, judi- 
cially — remembering that I am the Executive of the na- 
tion. I know men love to have their names spoken of in 
connection with acts of mercy ; and how easy it is to 
yield to this impulse. But we must not forget that what . 
may be mercy to the individual is cruelty to the State. 
(Applause.) In the exercise of mercy there should be no 
doubt left that this high prerogative is not used to relieve 
a few at the expense of the many. Be assured that I 
shall never forget that I am not to consult my own feel- 
ings alone, but to give an account to the whole people. 
(Applause.) In regard to my future course, I will now 
make no professions, no pledges. I have been connected 
somewhat actively with public affairs, and to the history 
of my past public acts, which is familiar to you, I refer 
for those principles which have governed me heretofore, 
and will guide me hereafter. In general, I will say I 
have long labored for the amelioration and elevation of 
the great mass of mankind. My opinions as to the nature 
of popular government have long been cherished ; and, 
constituted as I am, it is now too late in life for me to 
change them. I believe that Government was made for 
man, not man for Government. (Applause.) This strug- 
gle of the people against the most gigantic Rebellion the 
9 



\ 



144 LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 

world ever saw has demonstrated that the attachment of 
the people to their Government is tbe strongest national 
defence human wisdom can devise. {Applauae.) So long 
as each man feels that the interests of the Government 
are his interests, so long as the public heart turns in the 
right direction, and the people understand and appreciate 
the theory of our Government and love liberty, our Con- 
stitution will be transmitted unimpaired. If the time 
ever comes when the people shall fail, the Government 
will fail, and we shall cease to be one of the nations of 
the earth. After having preserved our form of free Gov- 
ernment, and shown its power to maintain its existence 
through the vicissitudes of nearly a century, it may be 
that it was necessary for us to pass through this last or- 
deal of intestine strife to prove that this Government will 
not perish from internal weakness, but will stand to defend 
itself against all foes and punish treason. {Applause.) 
In the dealings of an inscrutable Providence and by the 
operation of the Constitution, I have been thrown unex- 
pectedly into this position. My past life, especially my 
course during the present unholy Rebellion, is before you ; 
I have no principles to retract, I defy any one to point to any 
of my public acts at variance with the fixed principles which 
have guided me through life. I have no professions to 
offer. Professions and promises would be worth nothing 
at this time. No one can foresee the circumstances that 
will hereafter arise. Had any man gifted with prescience 
four years ago uttered and written down in advance the 
events of this period, they would have seemed more mar- 
vellous than any thing in the "Arabian Nights." I shall 
not attempt to anticipate the future. As events occur, 
and it becomes necessary for me to act, I shall dispose of 
each as it arises, deferring any declaration or message 
until it can be written paragraph by paragraph in the 
light of events as they transpire. 

The members of the delegation were then severally in- 
troduced to the President by Gov. Oglesby. 

BECEPTION OP THE CHRISTIAN COMMISSION. 

As soon as the Illinois Delegation had retired. President 
Johnson received a large number of delegates of the 
Christian Commission temporarily residing in Washing- 



LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 145 

ton. The Rev. Mr. Border of Albany delivered a brief 
but eloquent and impressive address, saying that they 
recognized him as called in the providence of God to have 
rule over the nation ; that in the past public services of 
the President they had their foundation of hope for the 
future, and now, as they looked on the face of his illus- 
trious predecessor, whose sad death had moved the coun- 
try to tears, they believed that God had sent him as Moses 
to lead the people and his successor as Joshua, to give 
them a land of promise ; that in the administration of 
justice, mercy would follow the success of our arms ; 
their prayer was for an enduring peace and all the bless- 
ings of free government. 

REPLY OF THE PRESIDENT. 

The President replied that such were his feelings in 
consequence of the late afflicting events he could not 
respond in appropriate terms. Perhaps the best reply 
would be silence. He, however, acknowledged his thanks 
for the kind sentiments expressed. Although he might 
fail, he would promise that he would undertake to perform 
the grave and responsible duties devolving upon him with 
all the zeal of an honest heart. He had knowledge of and 
appreciated the ofiBces of the Christian Commission. He 
always had an abiding faith in the people, and looked on 
the Government as based upon the principles of human 
rights. The nation's mission is not yet completed. It is 
in our hands. When we look at the country's condition, it 
gives a complete contradiction to the assumption of our 
enemies. In the midst of treason and rebellion, we find 
that we will triumph at last. Although we have had a 
civil war which has covered the land with gloom, and 
while the entire country was rejoicing over the triumph 
of the struggle, there has been an assassination the most 
atrocious and diabolical the world has ever witnessed. 



146 LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 

While the nation was jubilant, the Chief Magistrate was 
stricken down like a star from its sphere. An interreg- ' 
nuna, a hiatus, was created in the Government. In France, 
for instance, under similar circumstance, there would have 
been scenes of anarchy. But not so here, where the 
Government is founded on justice and right. We have 
developed the great truth that it is strong enough to pre- 
serve its existence while suppressing all public disorders 
within our widely extended limits. Government is made 
for the people, and not the people for the Government. 
He was not sectarian ; he claimed a charity coextensive 
with the human family. He believed, in the language of 
another, that religion is an arch of promise, spanning 
humanity, with its ends resting on the horizon. Keligion 
is seen in its acts more than its profession, and good deeds 
never escape recognition. 

He then repeated his sentiments regarding his future 
political course, similar to those addressed to the Illinois 
Delegation, saying the time had come when intelligent 
men like those before him should exert their moral influ- 
ence in erecting a standard by which everybody should 
be taught to believe that treason is the highest crime 
known to the law, and that the perpetrator should be 
visited with the punishment which he deserves. 

The sentiments met the hearty responses of "Amen." 
The gentlemen were then severally introduced to the 
President, and all expressed themselves highly gratified 
with the interview. 

RECEPTION OP THE COMMITTEE OP THE 
NEW YORK CHAMBER OP COMMERCE. 

On the next day, April 19th, 18G5, the committee of 
the Chamber of Commerce of New York, consisting of 
General Walbridge, R. H. McCurdy, Alexander W. Brad- 
ford, W. Barton, W. M. Yermilyea, F. A. Winston, W. 



LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSDK. 147 

Borden, and W. "K. Strong, waited on the President, and 
through General Walbridge assured him that the same 
support which the Chamber of Commerce had always ex- 
tended to his illustrious predecessor, will heartily be given 
to him and his administration. In conclusion the committee 
stated they left the cause of the Union to the President, 
and commended him to the care of a kind Providence. 

THE PRESIDENT'S REPLY. 

The President replied as follows : I thank you, gentle- 
men, for the expression of your encouragement. In the 
exigencies which surround me I need encouragement and 
support. I am not at this moment prepared to enter upon 
an explanation of my future policy. I can only point to 
my previous record in regard to this rebellion, to assure 
you that the same energy and determination shall be 
exercised for its suppression as heretofore. My adminis- 
tration will be based on the Constitution and the laws, and 
as events arise I will endeavor to meet them to the ut- 
most of my ability. 

RECEPTION OF THE BRITISH AMBASSADOR. 

On the 20th of April, 1865, Sir Frederick A. Bruce, 
Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary of her 
Britannic Majesty to this Government, presented his cre- 
dentials to President Johnson. He was intro(iuced by 
Wm. Hunter, Esq., acting Secretary of State. Sir Pred- 
erick spoke as follows on the occasion : 

Mr. President : — It is with deep and sincere concern 
that I have to accompany my first official act with expres- 
sions of condolence. Ou Saturday last the ceremony that 
takes place here to-day was to have been performed, but 
the gracious intentions of the late lamented President were 
frustrated by the events which have plunged this country 
in consternation and affliction, and which will call forth in 
Great Britain feelings- of horror as well as of profound 
sympathy. It becomes, therefore, my duty, sir, to present 



148 LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 

the letter from my sovereign, of which I am the bearer, to 
you as President of the United States, and it is with pleas- 
ure that I convey the assurances of regard and good will 
which her majesty entertains toward you sir, as President 
of the United States. I am further directed to express 
her Majesty's friendly disposition towards the great Nation 
of which you are Chief Magistrate, and her hearty good 
wishes for its peace, prosperity, and welfare. Her Majesty 
has nothing more at heart than to conciliate those relations 
of amity and good understanding which have so long and 
so happily existed between the two kindred nations of the 
United States and Great Britain, and it is in this spirit 
that I am directed to perform the duties of the important 
and honorable post confided to me. Permit me, sir, to 
say that it shall be the object of my earnest endeavors to 
carry out my instructions faithfully in this respect, and to 
express the hope, sir, that you will favorably consider my 
attempts to merit your approbation and to give effect to 
the friendly intentions of the Queen and of her Majesty's 
government. I have the honor to place in your hands the 
letter of credence confided to me by her Majesty. 

REPLY OF THE PRESIDENT. 

To which President Johnson replied : 

Sir Frederick A. Bruce : — The very cordial and friendly 
sentiments which you have expressed on the part of her 
Britannic Majesty, give me great pleasure. Great Britain 
and the United States, by the extended and various forms 
of commerce between them, the contiguity of portions of 
their possessions, and the similarity of their language and 
laws, are drawn into constant and intimate intercourse. 
At the same time they are, from the same causes, exposed 
to frequent occasions of misunderstanding, only to be 
averted* by mutual forbearance. So eagerly are the people 
of the two countries engaged, throughout almost the whole 
world, in the pursuit of similar commercial enterprises, ac- 
companied by natural rivalries and jealousies, that at first 
sight it would almost seem that the two Governments must 
be enemies, or at best cold and calculating friends. So 
devoted are the two nations throughout all their domain, 
and even in their most remote territory and colonial posses- 
sions, to the principles of civil rights and constitutional lib- 



LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 149 

erty, that, on the other hand, the superficial observer might 
erroneously count upon a continued concert of action and 
sympathy amounting to an alliance between them. Each 
is charged with the development of the progress of the 
human race, and each in its sphere is subject to difficulties 
and trials not participated in by the other. The interests 
of civilization and of humanity require that the two should 
be friends. I have always known and accounted as a fact 
honorable to both countries, that the Queen of England is 
a sincere and honest well-wisher to the United States. I 
have been equally frank and explicit in the opinion that 
the friendship of the United States toward Great Britain 
is enjoined by all considerations of interest and of senti- 
ment affecting the character of both. You will, therefore, 
be accepted as a Minister friendly and well-disposed to the 
maintenance of peace and the honor of both countries. 
You will find myself and all my associates acting in accor- 
dance with the same enlightened policy and consistent sen- 
timents, and so I am sure that it will not occur in your 
case that either yourself or this Government will ever have 
cause to regret that such an important relationship existed 
at such a crisis. 

RECEPTION OF THE DIPLOMATIC CORPS. 

Soon after the reception of the British Minister, the 
members of the Diplomatic Corps vrere presented to 
President Johnson, by the Acting Secretary of State, 
Willia'm Hunter, Esq. As the Dean of that body. Baron Yon 
Gerolt, the Prussian Minister, addressed the President as 
follows : 

Mr. President : — The representatives of foreign nations 
have assembled here to express to your Excellency their 
feelings at the deplorable event of which they have been 
witnesses ; to say how sincerely they share the national 
mourning for the cruel fate of the late President, Abraham 
Lincoln, and how deeply they sympathize with the govern- 
ment and people of the United States in their great afflic- 
tion. With equal sincerity we tender to you, Mr. Presi- 
dent, our best wishes for the welfare and prosperity of the 
United States, and for your personal health and happiness. 
May we be allowed, also, Mr. President, to give utterance 



150 LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 

on this occasion to our sincerest hopes for an early re- 
establishment of peace in this great country, and for the 
maintenance of the friendly relations between the govern- 
ment of the United States and the governments which we 
represent. 

REPLY OF THE PRESIDENT. 

To which the President replied : 

Gentlemen op the Diplomatic Body. — I heartily thank 
you, on behalf of the government and people of the 
United States, for the sympathy which you have so 
feelingly expressed upon the mournful event to which 
you refer. The good wishes also which you kindly offer 
for the welfare and prosperity of the United States, 
and for my personal health and happiness, are gracefully 
received. Your hopes for the early restoration of peace 
in this country are cordially reciprocated by me, and you 
may be assured that I shall leave nothing undone towards 
preserving those relations of friendship which now fortu- 
nately exist between the United States and all foreign 
powers. 

We have presented to the reader the set speeches on the 
occasion of the Diplomatic receptions, but we think the 
subjoined sketch of the interview with Sir Frederick A. 
Bruce, will be found more interesting than the formal 
reports. On the day of the receptions a correspondent 
wrote : 

Sir Frederick Bruce's interview with President Johnson 
to-day was as informal and as undiplomatic as President 
Lincoln himself could have made it. This new minister 
made his appearance with all his stars and decorations on, 
presented his credentials, and formally read his speech. 
Mr. Johnson replied, saying that he was glad to see him, 
and to welcome to the Capitol a representative of Great 
Britain, and then added : " But, sir, I am not much used 
to the Diplomatic formalities customary on such occasions. 
My idea is simply that two great nations ought to conduct 
their relations very much as two neighbors who sincerely 



LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 151 

desire peace and good fellowship between themselves 
would do, and that the less mere formality about it the 
better." "I assure you, Mr. President," interrupted 
Sir Frederick, pointing to his uniform and decorations, 
•'that I should feel very much more at ease without these 
things than with them." The remark was so thoroughly 
English, and at the same time so consonant to American 
prejudice against fuss and feathers, that the President and 
Minister became friends at once, and sat down for a chat. 
Sir Frederick asked about Sherman. President Johnson 
explained the position. " What chance is there for Mr. 
Davis then !" asked Sir Frederick. " Oh! a small particle 
still : doubtless his escape across the country," said the 
President. "Well," replied the Minister, in an inquiring 
tone, " I should think that Mr. Davis and a few members of 
his cabinet would probably find it well to start pretty soon ?" 
"If they know what is for their own interest," responded 
the President rather grimly, "they had better lose no 
time about it. The time has come," he added, "when 
traitors must be taught they are criminals. The country 
has clearly made up its mind on that point, and it can find 
no more earnest agent of its will than myself." There 
was then a renewal of the mutual promise to talk over 
any difiiculties that might arise between Great Britain 
and the United States like two neighbors sincerely desirous 
of good terms with each other, and so the interview ended. 

ADDRESS TO LOYAL SOUTHERNERS. 

During the same month a deputation of loyal men from 
various Southern States waited on the President. In reply 
to a brief address, he said : 

" It is hardly necessary for me on this occasion to say 
that my sympathies and impulses in connection with this 
nefarious rebellion beat in unison with yours. Those who 
have passed through thisbitter ordeal, and who participated 
in it to a great extent, are more competent, as I think, to 



152 LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 

udge and determine the true policy which should be pur- 
sued. (Applause.) I have but little to say on this ques- 
tion in response to what has been said. It enunciates and 
expresses my own feelings to the fullest extent ; and in 
much better language than I can at the present moment 
summQu to my aid. The most that I can say is that, en- 
tering upon the duties that have devolved upon me under 
circumstances that are perilous and responsible, and being 
thrown into the position I now occupy unexpectedly, in 
consequence of the sad event, the heinous assassination 
which has taken place — in view of all that is before me and 
the circumstances that surround me — I cannot but feel that 
your encouragement and kindness are peculiarly acceptable 
and appropriate. I do not think you, who have been 
familiar with my course — you who are from the South, deem 
it necessary for me to make any professions as to the future 
on this occasion, nor to express what my course will be 
upon questions that may arise. If my past life is no indi- 
cation of what my future will be, my professions were both 
worthless and empty ; and in returning you my sincere 
thanks for this encouragement and sympathy, I can only re- 
iterate what I have said before, and, in part, what has just 
been read. As far as clemency and mercy are concerned, 
and the prober exercise of the pardoning power, I think I 
understand the nature and character of the latter. In the 
exercise of clemency and mercy, that pardoning power should 
be exercised with caution. I do not give utterance to my 
opinions on this point in any spirit of revenge or unkind feel- 
ings. Mercy and clemency have been pretty large ingre- 
dients in my composition, having been the Executive of a 
State, and thereby placed in a position in which it was 
necessary to exercise clemency and mercy. I have been 
charged with going too far, being too lenient, and have be- 
come satisfied that mercy without justice is a crime, and 
that when mercy and clemency are exercised by the Execu- 
tive, it should always be done in view of justice, and in that 
manner alone is properly exercised that great prerogative. 
The time has come, as you who have had to drink this 
bitter cup are fully aware, when the American people should 
be made to understand the true nature of crime — of crime 
generally. Our people have a, high understanding, as well 
as of the necessity for its punishment; but in the catalogue 



LIFE AND SEKVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 153 

of crimes there is one, and that the highest known to the 
laws and the .Constitution, of which, since the days of 
Jefferson and Aaron Burr, they have become oblivious. That 
is — treason. Indeed, one who has become distinguished 
in treason, and in this rebellion said that " when traitors 
become numerous enough treason becomes respectable, and 
to become a traitor was to constitute a portion of the aris- 
tocracy of the country." God protect the people against 
such an aristocracy. Yes, the time has come when the 
people should be taught to understand the length and 
breadth, the depth and height of treason. An individual 
occupying the highest position among us was lifted to that 
position by the free offering of the American people — the 
highest position on the habitable globe. This man we 
have seen, revered and loved — one who, if he erred at all, 
erred ever on the side of clemency and mercy. That man 
we have seen treason strike, through a fitting instrument, 
and we have beheld him fall like a bright star falling from 
its sphere. Now, there is none but would say, if the ques- 
tion came up, what should be done with the individual who 
assassinated the Chief Magistrate of the nation — he is but 
a man — one man after all ; but if asked what should be 
done with the assassin, what should be the penalty, the for- 
feit exacted ? I know what response dwells in fevery bosom. 
It is, that he should pay the forfeit with his life. And hence 
we see there are times when mercy and clemency without 
justice, become a crime. The one should temper the other, 
and bring about that proper means. And if we should say 
this when the case was the simple murder of one man by 
his fellow man, what should we say when asked what should 
be done with him, or them, or those who have raised im- 
pious hands to take away the life of a nation composed of 
thirty millions of people ? What would be the reply to that 
question ? But while in mercy we remember justice, in the 
language that has been uttered, I say, justice toward the 
leaders, the conscious leaders ; but I also say amnesty, con- 
ciliation, clemency and mercy to the thousands of our 
countrymen whom you and I know have been deceived or 
driven into this infernal rebellion. And so I return to 
where I started from, and again repeat, that it is time our 
people were taught to know that treason is a crime, not a 
mere political difference, not a mere contest between two 



154 LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 

parties, in which one succeeded and the other has simply 
failed. They must know it is treason ; for if they had suc- 
ceeded, the life of the nation would have been reft from it — - 
the Union would have been destroyed. Surely the consti- 
tution sufficiently defines treason. It consists in levying 
war against the United States, and in giving their enemies 
aid and comfort. With this definition it requires the exer- 
cise of no great acumen to ascertain who are traitors. It 
requires no great perception to tell who have levied war 
against the United States ; nor does it require any great 
stretch of reasoning to ascertain who has given aid to the 
enemies of the United States ; and when the Government 
of the United States does ascertain who are the conscious 
and intelligent traitors, the penalty and the forfeit should 
be paid. (Applause.) I know how to appreciate the con- 
dition of being driven from one's home. I can sympathize 
with him whose all has been taken from him — with him who 
has been denied the place that gave his children birth. But 
let us, withal, in the restoration of true government, pro- 
ceed temperately and dispassionately, and hope and pray 
that the time will come, as I believe, when all can return 
and remain at our homes, and treason and traitors be driven 
from our land — {ajyplause) — when again law and order 
shall reign, and the banner of our country be unfurled over 
every inch of territory within the area of the United States. 
{Applause). In conclusion, let me thank you most pro- 
foundly for this encouragement and manifestation of your 
regard and respect, and assure you that I can give no 
greater assurance regarding the settlement of this question, 
than that I intend to discharge my duty, and in that way 
which shall, in ttie earliest possible hour, bring back peace 
to our distracted country. And I hope the time is not far 
distant when our people can all return to their homes and 
firesides, and resume their various avocations. 

IMPORTANT SPEECH TO THE INDIANA 
DELEGATION. 

At the close of the month of April, 1865, the President 
spoke as follows, in response to an address from a Delega- 
tion from the State of Indiana : 

As my honorable friend (Governor Myrton) knows, I 



LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 155 

long since took the ground that this Government was sent 
upon a great mission among the nations of the earth ; that 
it had a great work to perform, and that in starting it, it 
was started in perpetuity. Look back for one single moment 
to the Articles of Confederation, and then come down to 
118*7, when the Constitution was formed — what do you find ? 
That we, " the people of the United States, in order to form 
a more perfect government," etc. Provision is made for 
the admission of new States, to be added to the old ones 
embraced within the Union, Now, turn to the Constitu- 
tion, we find that amendments may be made by a recom- 
mendation of two-thirds of the members of Congress, if 
ratified by three-fourths of the States. Provision is made 
for the admission of new States ; no provision is made for 
the secession of old ones. The instrument was made to be 
good in perpetuity, and you can take hold of it, not to 
break up the Government, but to go on perfecting it more 
and more as it runs down the stream of time. We find the 
Government composed of integral parts. An individual is 
an integer, and a State itself is an integer, and the various 
States form the Union, which is itself an integer, they all 
making up the Government of the United States. Now we 
come to the point of my argument, so far as concerns the 
perpetuity of the Government. We have seen that the 
Government is composed of parts, each essential to the 
whole, and the whole essential to each part. Now, if an 
individual (part of a State) declare war against the whole, 
in violation of the Constitution, he, as a citizen, has viola- 
ted the law, and is responsible for the act as an individual. 
There may be more than one individual, it may go on until 
they become parts of States. Sometime the rebellion may 
go on increasing in number till the State machinery is over- 
turned and the country becomes like a man that is para- 
lyzed on one side. But we find in the Constitution a great 
panacea provided. It provides that the United States 
(that is the great integer) shall guarantee to each State 
(the integers composing the whole) in this Union a repub- 
lican form of government. Yes, if rebellion has been ram- 
pant, and set aside the machinery of a State for a time, 
there stands the. great law to remove the paralysis and re- 
vitalize i,t, and put it on its feet again. When we come to 
understand our system of Government, though it be com 
plex, we see how beautifully one part moves in harmony 



156 LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 

with another ; then we see our government is to be a per- 
petuity, there being no provision for pulling it down, the 
Union being its vitalizing power, imparting life to the whole 
of the States that move around it like planets around the 
sun, receiving thence light, and heat, and motion. Upon 
this idea of destroying States, my position has been hereto- 
fore well known, and I see no cause to change it now, and 
I am glad to hear its reiteration on the present occasion. 
Some are satisfied with the idea that States are to be lost 
in territorial and other divisions ; are to lose their charac- 
ter as States. But their life breath has only been sus- 
pended, and it is a high constitutional obligation we havo to 
secure each of these States in the possession and enjoyment 
of a republican form of Government. A State may be in 
the Government with a peculiar institution, and by the 
operation of rebellion lose that feature ; but it was a State 
when it went into rebellion, and when it comes out without 
the institution, it is still a State. I hold it a solemn obli- 
gation in any one of these States where the rebel armies 
have been beaten back or expelled, I care not how small 
the ship of State, I hold it, I say, a high duty to protect 
and to secure to them a republican form of government. 
This is no new opinion. It is expressed in conformity with 
my understanding of the genius and theory of our Govern- 
ment. Then in adjusting and putting the Government upon 
its legs again, I think the progress of this work must pass 
into the hands of its friends. If a State is to be nursed 
until it again gets strength, it must be nursed by its friends, 
not smothered by its enemies. Now, permit me to remark, 
that while I have opposed dissolution and disintegration on 
the one hand, on the other I am equally opposed to consoli- 
dation, or the centralization of power in the hands of a few. 

PENNSYLVANIA AND THE PRESIDENT. 

A delegation of citizens of Pennsylvania called upon the 
President, to present to him a letter from the Governor of 
that Commonwealth, Among those present were Colonel 
P. Jordan, military agent of Pennsylvania at Washington 
city, and his assistant. Colonel Gilliland, Samuel Wagner, 
Esq., of York county, and others. ColonelJ. W. Forney 
read the letter of Governor Curtin to the President : 



LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 157 

Executive Chamber, Ilarrisburg, Pa., April 25, 1865. 
. Sir : I have just returned from reverently attending the 
remains of our martyred President on their passage through 
this Commonwealth, and I avail myself of the first moment 
to assure you that, as Pennsylvania has throughout steadily 
and effectively sustained the Government in its efforts to 
crush the existing rebellion, so she and her authorities may 
be relied on to stand heartily by your Adminstration, and 
that, with an earnestness and vigor enhanced by the just 
horror which all her people entertain of the base and cow- 
ardly assassination to which your predecessor has fallen a 
victim. 

I know tha.t it is unnecessary to give you this assurance ; 
but looking to the vast responsibilities that have been sud- 
denly cast upon you, it has seemed to me that an express 
word of hearty encouragement from your friends cannot be 
otherwise than agreeable to you. I should have visited 
Washington to say this much to you in person, but I am 
unwilling just at this moment to incur the danger of inter- 
fering with the just discharge of your public duties by occu- 
pying your time. 

I am, sir, very respectfully. Your obedient servant, 

To the President. A. G. Curtin. 

REPLY OP THE PRESIDENT. 

In reply, President Johnson expressed his fervent thanks 
to Governor Curtin for the hearty manner in which he 
bad proffered his valuable support of the General Admin- 
istration. Some of his most interesting recollections were 
of the old Keystone State. In the war for the mainte- 
nance of the Government she had surpassed herself in her 
contributions to our armies and in the valor and sacrifices 
of her sons, many of whom he classed among his best 
friends, having met them in large numbers during his 
trials in Tennessee. President Johnson trusted that his 
administration of the Government would not be unworthy 
of the confidence of the loyal people of Pennsylvania. 



158 LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 

ANOTHER PENNSYLVANIA DELEGATION. 

A committee of prominent gentlemen from different 
parts of Pennsylvania, most of whom participated in a. 
large meeting, held in Harrisburg on Thursday evening, 
2tth April, was appointed to present the preamble and 
resolutions unanimously adopted at that time to Andrew 
Johnson, President of the United States. In accordance 
with the instructions of that meeting, nearly all the gentle- 
men appointed on the committee, accompanied by the 
Hon. Thaddeus Stevens, paid their respects to President 
Johnson, at his rooms in the Treasury building. 

Gen. Cameron introduced the members of the committee, 
individually, to the President, after w^hich, in the follow- 
ing language, he presented the preamble and resolutions 
which the committee was charged to convey to the Chief 
Magistrate : 

Mr. President. — I have only one word to say. A large 
number of people, members of the Union and Republican 
party, met at Harrisburg last Thursday, and appointed 
this Committee to come and pay their respects to you. 
We have nothing to desire but the prosperity of your 
administration, and have ample confidence in your ability, 
a confidence derived from your past history. Your first 
great task is to close up this war, and we take it for 
granted you will act not only wisely but justly. I also 
take it for granted that the men who brought on this war 
will meet the full reward of their guilt, while we believe 
the mere deluded instruments ought to be suffered to go 
along their wonted way and do the best they can. We 
cannot doubt that the men who made the war — who have 
killed in battle thousands of our sons and brothers, and 
who have suffered other thousands to die from starvation 
in loathsome prisons — will be permitted to live in the 
country which they have disgraced and denounced ; and 
we hope that you will find some way to take care of them 
and to save and reunite the country. There are none here 
who have come from any desire for place for themselves 
or their relations — they are substantial men, from all parts 



LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 127 

of affairs, President Johnson acted with a masterly- 
statesmanship which cannot be too much admired. Feel- 
ing that every word he spoke was listened to by the 
entire civilized world, he yet sent forth such utterances 
as indicated his general line of action, and yet did not 
hastily pledge himself to any absolute course of policy, 
w^hich he might, in future, see cause to change. Every 
reader will be interested in his noble and manly addresses, 
delivered during this trying period, and we may also 
quote the spontaneous expressions of a friend, who knew 
and loved him, on hearing that by the death of Mr. 
Lincoln he had been elevated to the Presidential chair. 
At a meeting at Racine, Wisconsin, on the reception of 
the news of the death of Abraham Lincoln, Senator 
Doolittle spoke as follows : 



Friends, Neighbors, and Fellow- Citizens : — Abraham 
Lincoln is dead. He has fallen at the hands of an 
assassin. His confidential adviser, the Secretary of State, 
has also been stabbed by an assassin, and, from some 
strange confusion in the telegraphic reports, we do not 
know at this hour whether he is dead or alive. My soul 
is overwhelmed, and would sink utterly, but that I know 
God lives, and our beloved country is in his holy keeping. 
To any other people than my own neighbors I could not 
now open my mouth to speak at all. And even to you, 
on this occasion, I will only answer such earnest inquiries 
as you have pressed upon me, and claim that T ought to 
answer. And those questions do not concern President 
Lincoln nor Secretary Seward. You all know their good 
and great qualities. Though dead, they yet live — live in 
their writings, in their speeches, in their great deeds, and 
in the grandest events of history, in which they have been 
chief actors. 

As in the revolutionary period in which our Republic 
was formed, George Washington was the great character, 
and Hamilton was his confidential adviser ; so when future 
generations shall read the history of the second revolu- 
tionary crisis in which our Republic is now redeemed and 
8 



128 LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDEEW JOIIXSON". 

rooroneratocl from the eiirse of slavery, Abraliani Lincoln 
will stand out the greatest man of tlie age ; and William 
H. Seward will be associated with him as Hamilton is 
with Washington, to the latest generation. 

Bat it is not of them that you wish to hear, nor that I 
could speak to-night. 

You ask me to speak of Andrew Johnson. Who is he? 
what is he? and what will be his policy? And you insist 
that I shall give you as a neighbor and a friend, what in- 
formation I may have upon that most important subject. 
I will answer you briefly and from the best information I 
have. He is a native of North Carolina. He was an 
humble mechanic, a tailor by trade, and, it is said, received 
instructions in the first rudiments of education from his 
devoted wife. He is a man of medium stature, compact 
and strong built, of dark complexion, and deep-set black 
eyes. He is of billions temperament, of strong intellect, 
indomitable energy, and iron will, in whose character I 
should say the strongest feature of all is that of stern 
justice, mingled with a genuine hatred of all forms of 
aristocracy and oppression, and a patriotism so ardent 
that it amounts to a passion, almost a religion. He was 
the real author of the Homestead law^ although it did not 
pass both Houses until after the rebellion began. On 
account of his determined and constant support of that 
measure of the people, and which, of itself, would bar 
slavery out of all the new territories, the aristocratic 
slaveholders of the South — Mason, Slidell, Toombs, Davis, 
and the like, long before the rebellion, hated him with a 
perfect hatred. I have occasion to know how much he 
reciprocated their feelings toward him, for when I was 
occasionally, as a young Senator, engaged in controversy 
with them, he always took great pleasure in referring me 
to the necessary documents to enable me successfully to 
controvert them. 

But, you ask me, is he a sober man ? 

Such was certainly his character during all the time he 
was in the Senate of the United States. My best im- 
pression is that he did not drink at all at that time. 
After his leaving the Senate to go to Tennessee as a 
Brigadier-General, to act as military Governor, I, of 
course, do not know w^hether he did or did not, like a 
great many of the officers in the army, indulge in drinking. 



LIFE AND SEKVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 129 

I am informed that when he left Tennessee to come on to 
Washington to attend the inauguration, he was just 
recovering from a severe ilhiess. That he came upon 
most urgent solicitation, against his own preferences. 
That he was sustained and kept up more or less by 
stimulants prescribed and recommended by his physician. 
He was still suffering from his malady when probably he 
ought to have been under the charge of his physician on 
the day of his inauguration. 

What occurred then has given rise to a thousand criti- 
cisms and apprehensions. I shall not go farther into that 
than to say, I saw him several times afterward before I 
left Washington, at the House of Mr. Francis P. Blair, 
where he was staying by invitation, in company with 
Hon. Preston King, of New York, and I found him re- 
covering from illness, and, so far as I could judge in all 
respects, he appeared as he was in the Senate. I do not bo- 
lieve that Andrew Johnson, who always lived a temperate 
and upright life until past fifty years of age, now that the 
great responsibilities of the Presidency are thrown upon 
him, can or will permit himself to indulge in the use of 
intoxicating drinks, and thus endanger that republic for 
which he has done and suffered so much, and for which 
he would willingly lay down his life. I would sooner 
believe that he would forswear all intoxicating drinks 
whatsoever. 

But you ask me again what policy will he pursue ? 

As to the reconstruction question, he will undoubtedly 
pursue the same policy as Mr. Lincoln. In his address, 
when inaugurated, speaking of the States, he said, " They 
are not dead, but sleeping." 

He is fully committed in favor of the recognized free 
States of Tennessee, Arkansas, and Louisiana. As to 
this affair of General Weitzel in Virginia, in allowing the 
return of the rebel Legislature to Richmond, he has not 
spoken, and of course I cannot assume to speak for him. 

But what course will he pursue toward the traitors ? 
We can only judge by his record. Early in the rebellion, 
during the last days of Buchanan's administration, on the 
2d of March, 1861, in a speech in reply to Lane, of 
Oregon, speaking of the firing upon the Star of the West, 
and the seizure of our arsenals, docks, forts, and navy- 
yards, he used this memorable language : " Show me who 



130 LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 

has been engaged in these conspiracies, who has fired 
upon our flag, who has given instructions to take our 
forts, and custom-houses, and arsenals, and dockyards, 
and I will show you a traitor." [Applause in the 
galleries. When order was restored he continued:] 
" Were I President of the United States, I would do as 
Thomas Jefferson did in 1806, with Aaron Burr. I 
would have them arrested, and if convicted within the 
meaning and scope of the constitution, hy the Eternal God 
I would execute them.'''' 

He is now President. Has anything since occurred to 
make him repent that solemn oath, or change his stern 
resolve ? 

His wife and children have been captured by rebels, 
suffering all but death ; his property has been confiscated 
by them ; his sons imprisoned; his neighbors and friends 
shot, murdered in cold blood, hung, gibbeted ; and for no 
ofiFence but that of loyalty to the Government of the 
United States. I see nothing in all this calculated to 
change his convictions or his purpose. On the other hand, 
in his speech upon the fall of Richmond and Lee's surren- 
der, while most others, in the delirium of joy and exulta- 
tion over our success and of the approach of peace, spoke 
of amnesty, he alone did not forget the stern demands 
of justice — for "he is made of sterner stuff*." Upon this 
subject he said : " The halter to influential traitors; to the 
honest boy, the deluded man, who has been deceived into 
the rebel ranks, I would extend leniency; I would say, 
renew your support to the government and become a good 
citizen; but the leaders I would hang." 

And now, after the culmination of all the wickedness of 
reVjellion in the assassination of the President and Secre- 
tary of State — as he lifts his hand by the dead body of the 
President to repeat the solemn oath administered by the 
Chief Justice, I see nothing to change his convictions. 
When he uttered those words, " the duties are mine, I 
will perform them, trusting in God," T think I see the 
same patriotic indignation beaming from those deep black 
eyes, and lighting up that iron face, which I saw four 
years ago, when he uttered in the Senate those words — 
now so terrible to traitors — "By the Eternal God I would 
execute them." In this respect I think the administration 
of Mr. Johnson may diff'er from that of Mr. Lincoln. Mr. 



LIFE AND SERVICES OF ^\ XDEEW JOHNSON. 181 

Lincoln would have dealt with the rebels as an indulgent 
father deals with erring children. Mr. Johnson will deal 
with them more like a stern and incorruptible judge. 
Thus in a moment the sceptre of power has passed from a 
hand of flesh to a hand of iron. 

How strangel}' overruled have all things been to destroy 
slavery and the aristocracy founded upon it. Its mad- 
dened fanatical leaders made war upon the government to 
regain political power ; that power has been utterly 
destroyed. They made war to extend and strengthen 
slavery ; the war has destroyed it and set free every 
slave. And now, by madly wreaking vengeance upon 
the head of the great, generous, magnanimous Lincoln, who, 
in the overflowing goodness of his heart, was just ready 
to issue a proclamation of amnesty to save them, they 
have put the necks of their leaders into a halter, with no 
power to save but in the clemency of one sternly, just who, 
four years ago, declared in the most solemn form that, if 
President, he would execute them, and whose subsequent 
career and experience have all tended to strengthen rather 
than weaken that resolution. 

Knowing them both as I do, I have said to Mr. Lin- 
coln, be strong of heart and of good courage. Justice 
demands the punishment of the great criminals. 

To Mr. Johnson I would say while administering justice 
remember mercy. 

I have thus, my friends, very hastily, but without 
reserve, given you an answer to your earnest inquiries. 

Of course I speak by no authority, and merely from first 
impressions, rather as a duty to you, as a neighbor and 
friend, having had some greater and better opportunities 
for personally knowing the man upon whom, by this 
terrible calamity, the great office of President has been 
thrown in these troublesome times. 

We also quote from the address of the great American 

historian, George Bran croft, a passage of his oration on 

the occasion of the funeral of Mr. Lincoln at New York. 

Mr. Bancroft said : 

" The duty of the hour is incomplete, our mourning is 
insincere, if, while we express unwavering trust in the 
great principles that underlie our Government, we do not 



132 LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSOX. 

also give our support to the man to whom the people 
have entrusted its administration. Andrew Johnson is 
now, by the Constitution, the President of the United 
States, and he stands before the world as the most con- 
spicuous representative of the industrial classes. Left an 
orphan at four years old, poverty and toil were his steps 
to honor. His youth was not passed in the halls of col- 
leges ; nevertheless he has received a thorough political 
education in statesmanship, in the school of the people, 
and by long experience of public life. A village function- 
ary ; member successively of each branch of the Tennes- 
see Legislature, hearing with a thrill of joy the words : 
' The Union, it must be preserved ;' a representative in 
Congress for successive years ; Governor of the great 
State of Tennessee, approved as its Governor by re- 
election; he was at the opening of the rebellion a Senator 
from that State in Congress. Then at tlie Capitol, when 
Senators, unrebuked by the Government, sent word by 
telegram to seize forts and arsenals, he alone from that 
Southern region told them what the Government did not 
dare to tell them, that they were traitors, and deserved the 
punishment for treason. Undismayed by a perpetual pur- 
pose of public enemies to take his life, bearing up against 
the still greater trial of the persecution of his wife and 
children, in due time he went back to his State, deter- 
mined to restore it to the Union, or die with the American 
flag for his winding sheet. And now, at the call of the 
United States, he has returned to Washington as a con- 
queror, with Tennessee as a Free State for his trophy. 
It remains for him to consummate the vindication of the 
Union." 

The loyal press of the country came forward to the sup- 
port of President Johnson with wonderful unanimity, and, 
while he was forced to indicate his general policy by im- 
promptu addresses, they cordially accepted him as a 
worthy successor of the Martyr Lincoln. We have room 
but for two or three of the multitudinous articles with 
which the press teemed during the month of April, 1865. 
The New York Tribune said, on the 22d : 

Andrew Johnson grows steadily in public confidence 
and esteem, in spite of the injustice done to the country 



LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 133 

as well as to him in compelling him to make off-hand re- 
sponses to two or three elaborate addresses per day, 
intended to enlighten him as to his duties as well as with 
regard to the importance and influence of those who make 
him the target of their orations. Ue was so recently 
inducted into his great trust that he must bear these in- 
flictions for the moment ; but we feel confident that his 
complaisance is very nearly exhausted, so that he will 
very soon ask his haranguers to give him a chance to 
attend to his business by minding their own. He is firm, 
though courteous, and will not allow time that belongs to 
the public to be bored away much longer. Mr. Johnson 
has some rare qualifications for the vast responsibility so 
suddenly thrust upon him. In the first place it will not 
be easy to expose him to prejudice as a " Yankee." He 
is a Southerner born and bred ; he never lived in a free 
State till he made one free for himself; and it will be 
diSicult to make the poor whites of the South believe 
him their natural, implacable foe. In short, he is in a 
position to stand well with a majority of our people, and 
we trust he will. But more; he knows the rebellion, egg 
and bird ; its incitements, its pretexts, its leaders, their ob- 
jects and their hopes. He knows how far the South has 
been perverted or tainted by that rebellion, and wherein 
it is safe to temper justice with mercy. And when he — 
in a proclamation or otherwise — shall set forth the extent 
to which he will grant amnesty, and wherein he must 
insist that the law shall take its course, there will be a 
very general disposition to acquiesce in his conditions and 
limitations in the firm belief that he knows what is neces- 
sary in the premises, and will be as rigorous as he must, 
and no more so. 

The New York Times thus spoke of the new President : 

Andrew Johnson has been in continuous public life for 
thirty years. He entered the General Assembly of Ten- 
nessee as a member of the House of Representatives the 
first Monday in October, 1835, from the county of Greene, 
in East Tennessee. He was reelected to the succeeding 
biennial Assembly, in 1837, and again in 1839. In 1841 
he was transferred to the State Senate by the counties of 
Washington, Greene, and Sullivan. In 1843 to a seat in 
Congress from the First Rei)resentative District, compri- 
sing the same counties and the new county of Johnson. 



134 LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 

He served the same district, by four successive reelections, 
until the new apportionment under the census of 1850, in 
all ten years, when, in 1853, he was made Governor of 
Tennessee, and was subsequently reelected in 1855. At 
the end of his second terra, in 1857, he was made United 
States Senator, his term expiring on the 4th of March, 
1863, since when, and until his recent election as Yice- 
President of the United States, he was Military Governor 
of Tennessee. 

Such, in brief, has been the public service of Mr. 
Johnson. His political antecedents from 1835 to 1865 
have been uniformly true to the Federal Union, to rigid 
public economy, independent labor, free representation, 
and free homesteads. His practice rather than profession 
has been that of democracy. His democracy was in the 
acknowledgment and assertion of the right and rule of 
the people. From 1839 to 1861 he was identified with 
the so-called Democratic party of Tennessee. He honored 
the party by his conscientious and upright services as the 
Representative and Executive of the people, successively, 
and was honored by it because of these and the additional 
qualifications of consistent and useful, not to say able, 
statesmanship. The other prominent leaders of his party 
did not always love him, especially while Governor, be- 
cause their democracy was of a different order from his 
own humble origin, frugal habits, and unpretending walk 
and conversation in high oflBce. But they early learned 
to respect him because of the hold which he had upon the 
people, and because of his inflexible integrity. When, in 
the early troubles of 1861, they forgot this lesson, and 
attempted to rush the State out of the Union, against his 
eloquent and indignant protests in the Senate and on the 
stump, and against the direct popular protest of the people, 
on a direct vote for a convention in February, of that year, 
they were not long in discovering, if not their own great 
mistake, his prescience and consistency as a power in the 
State, which had abhorred nullification in, and since the 
days of Jackson, and which had made the capital too hot 
to hold secession, when attempted by the " fire-eaters" of 
the other Southern States, at Nashville, in 1850. 

A retrospect of Mr. Johnson's earlier position in the 
politicsof Tennessee may not be uninteresting. The Con 
stitution of the State was remodelled in 1834. Gradual 



LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 135 

emancipation was petitioned for extensively from the 
Eastern and other Mountain Districts to the State Con- 
vention, but rejected by the larger Slaveholding Delegates. 
Mr. Johnson was not a member of the convention, but 
that his sympathies were for Free Representation, and with 
this movement as attested by an earnest subsequent effort 
in the Legislature for the equal apportionment of the Free 
WhiteYoting population of the State by Congressional Dis- 
tricts, under the succeeding census of 1840. He held the 
principles of the three-fifths Slave representation as a con- 
stitutional blunder at best, and its application to the Free 
Mountain Districts of East Tennessee as an iniquity. He 
was not successful, however, in reforming it. 

Mr. Johnson was made a member of the first Legis- 
lature, under the new constitution, in 1835. He was then 
only twenty-seven years of age — young, energetic, and 
thoroughly imbued with an independent and self-reliant 
spirit. The year before, a breach had been made in the 
hitherto dominant and overwhelming Jackson Democracy 
of the State, as between Mr. Van Buren and Judge Hugh 
L. White, for the Presidential election. Mr. Polk and 
Mr. Bell were the rival leaders, as they had been rivals 
for the Speakership of the U. S. House of Representa- 
tives on the appointment of Mr. Andrew Stevenson as 
Minister to England. Mr. Bell was elected, in 1834, to 
fill this chair for the remainder of that Congress. But 
the contest was exceedingly bitter, and was carried into 
the next Congress, President Jackson taking part against 
Bell for Speaker, and White for the next Presidency, and 
openly for Polk and Van Buren. Mr. Polk was made 
Speaker. But Bell and White carried the State for 
Governor and Legislature in 1835, and the Presidency in 
1836. Mr. Johnson entered public life as a Bell and 
White man. He was a favorite of the party in the 
Legislature of 1835, and their caucus candidate for 
Speaker of the House in 1837, but was defeated by a 
coalition between the Yan Buren minority and another 
White delegate from East Tennessee. When White and 
Bell subsequently became closely identified with the old 
Whig party, Mr. Johnson left them, and was the ac- 
knowledged leader of the Yan Buren Governor (Polk) in 
the Legislature of 1839. 

We have intimated that Mr. Johnson, in his highest 



136 LIFE AXD SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHXSON. 

positions at home and in Washington, was a man of 
frugal, economical habits. In this he was consistent with 
his early life, as an industrious, hard-laboring mechanic, 
and the provident care of his wife and family. The former 
had taught him to read and write after they were married. 
He subsequently became emulous of public life. He 
entered upon it with zest, and loved it for its fascinations 
and faithfully-won honors. He had no professional train- 
ing — was ambitious of none. He was never a lawyer, as 
we believe has been generally supposed. He was never 
a huckstering politician — never paid money for a nomina- 
tion or for an election, beyond the incidental expenses of 
his stump campaigns for Congress and for Governor. He 
was and is devoted to the public service, for its usefulness 
and its honors, and content with and systematically 
economizing its moderate emoluments for the sake of his 
family. And, in this, it is safe to say that parsimony has 
as little to do with his sense of domestic duty, as expen- 
sive tastes or prodio;al wastefulness. 

Above all, Mr. Johnson is a true as well as a brave 
man ; faithful four years ago among the faithless of his 
old rivals of the Whig party, and his old colleagues of 
the Democratic party of Tennessee ; true to the Union, 
when it cost something to be true ; to the Government, 
in its life-struggle against rebellion and insurrection ; to 
free labor, and its disenthralment from the incubus of 
slavery ; and to that unswerving line of duty, and devo- 
tion to hard study, progressive statesmanship, and ripen- 
ing experience, which have carried him from the humblest 
to the topmost round of human ambition. 

We close our extracts, which might be indefinitely ex- 
tended, by a quotation from the Philadelphia Evening 
Bulletin, containing some interesting facts and suggestions. 
The Bulletin says : 

It is an awfully sudden transition by which we have 
passed from the administration of President Lincoln to 
that of President Johnson. In these brief hours the reins 
which had fallen from the hands of the man of kindly 
words and gentle spirit and matchless wisdom, were 
solemnly and sadly taken up by his Constitutional suc- 
cessor, and to-day we are shaping our lips to their utter- 



LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 137 

ance of a new President's name. We have heard many 
persons in public and private, referring, with great mis- 
givings, to the future, anxious to uphold the new Adminis- 
tration and yet fearing that it has fallen into incompetent 
hands. Let all such misgivings and fears be banished at 
the outset. There is no cause for anxiety or alarm on 
this account. A long, clear, well-defined record of Andrew 
Johnson is before the country, and we do not hesitate to 
predict that what Abraham Lincoln was to the period of 
his Government, Andrew Johnson will be to the period 
now opening before us. The two men are as unlike as 
are the two periods which it has been and is their destiny 
to control, and we believe that each will have been found 
equally fitted by the hand of the same All-wise Provi- 
dence for the duties and responsibilities devolved upon 
them. Without recurring to the speeches of Mr. Johnson 
which he has made during the past few years, all marked 
by a high degree of statesmanlike ability, and breathing 
a spirit of lofty patriotism, the brief words that he has 
spoken since the melancholy event which has made him 
President are enough to inspire the whole country with 
courage and confidence. His remarks on being declared 
President of the United States, have already been read by 
thousands of our citizens. They are characterized by the 
deepest feeling, and by a strong, abiding faith in the prin- 
ciples which have ruled his whole public career. 

"Toil and an honest advocacy of the great principles of free 
government have been my lot. Duties have been mine — conse- 
quences are God's. This has been the foundation of my politi- 
cal creed, and I feel that in the end the government will triumph, 
and that these great principles will be permanently established." 

Simple grave words like these will go home to the 
hearts of the American people with a weight of conviction 
that no eloquence could have conveyed, and which no 
sophistry will be able to dislodge. 

The following telegram, just received from a distin- 
guished gentleman of Philadelphia, now in Washington, 
goes far to strengthen the confidence in President Johnson 
which we have expressed : 

•' Washixgtox, April 16, 1865. — I have had. with others, a most 
delightful conversation this afternoon with President Johnson. 
He is a true patriot, and the country is safe in his hands. He 



138 LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDEEW JOHNSON. 

was pleased to hear of the confidence in him expressed by mem- 
bers of the Union League and other Philadelphians and Penn- 
sjlvanians. He bears his new honors with sorrowful dignity 
and the calmness of a gentleman — realizing the sudden respon- 
sibility of the position like a sound statesman. I believe that 
he will administer the laws faithfully, justly, and promptly." 

With regard to his future policy, Presideut Johnson uses 
this sober, but significant language : 

" As to an indication of any policy which may be pursued by 
me in the administration of the Government, I have to say that 
that must be left for development as the administration progres- 
ses. 

" The message or declaration must be made by the acts as 
they transpire. The only assurance that I can now give of the 
future is reference to the past. The course which I have taken 
in the past in connection with this rebellion must be regarded 
as a guarantee of the future." 

That he will rule with a firm, strong hand, no one can 
reasonably doubt, and that the same singleness of purpose 
towards the rebellion, which has been the glory of Mr. 
Lincoln's government, will mark his administration, is 
equally certain. We are permitted to make the following 
extract from a private letter received by one of our friends 
to-day : 

" I write you very hurriedly, while my friend has not 
yet recovered from the shock of last night's most cruel 
deeds, to say that for three or four days I have seen Pres- 
ident Johnson every day, and have told him what the 
League expressed upon that memorable Monday morning 
last, of the earnest sentiment of the loyal people of this 
country as to the treatment of traitors. And he agreed 
with the League. He desired me to repeat General 

R 's remark that * Treason must be stigmatized as a 

crime, and not as an unsuccessful revolution,' until he had 
fixed it in his memory. I believe he may be trusted in 
this great emergency." 

Let the people respond heartily and promptly to the 
frank appeal of our new President, when he says : 

" I want your encouragement and countenance. I shall ask 
and rely upon you and others in carrying the Government 
through its present perils. I feel, in making this request, that 
it will be heartily responded to by you and all other patriots and 
lovers of the rights and interests of a free people." 



LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 189 

- We present hereafter reports of the addresses delivered 
by President Johnson, in response to speeches by the 
representatives of delegations from many States, who 
waited on him immediately on his assumption of his office. 
As a speaker, Mr. Johnson talks fluently and readily, 
and, while taking care not to say too much which might 
commit him to certain lines of policy, is yet winning in 
his address, and frank in his utterances. Probably no 
public official was ever forced to make so many speeches 
within a month after assuming so important an office, 
and it is certain that no man could have more easily and 
gracefully accomplished the duty. 

THE CLERGY— TREASURY OFFICERS. 

On the ITth of April, 1865, the clergy of the District 
of Columbia called upon the President at the Treasury 
building. He received them with great cordiality, and 
made a feeling and appropriate address. The heads of 
the Treasury bureaus then presented themselves, accom- 
panied by their clerks. Judge Lewis made a graceful 
and eloquent address, to which the President responded, 
closing as follows : " I have always thought theft was a 
crime and should be punished as a crime ; that arson was 
a great crime and should be punished as such ; that mur- 
der was a dreadful crime and should be punished as such, 
and that treason was the greatest of all crimes and should 
be punished as such." 

RECEPTION OF THE ILLINOIS DELEGATION. 

On the 18th of April, 1865, a delegation of citizens of 
Illinois paid their respects to his excellency, President 
Johnson. Governor Oglesby, accompanied by Senator 
Kichard Yates, General IsamN. Hayne, ex-Senator 0. H, 
Browning, Hon. D. L. Phillips, General J. F. Farnsworth, 
Hon. Isaac N. Arnold, Hon. John Wilson, General 



140 LIFE AND SERVICES OF AXDEEW JOHXSOX. 

Gamble, Col. John S. Loomis, Col. T. H. Bowen, Gov- 
ernor Pickering, of Oregon, General Julius White, Hon. 
J. M. Hanna, Major S. Wait, Major W. C. Carroll, Major 
P. Flynn, and a large concourse of citizens, repaired to the 
rooms of President Johnson, in the Treasury building. 

Governor Oglesby presented the delegation and made 
the subjoined address : 

Mr. President : — I take much pleasure in presenting 
to you this delegation of the citizens of Illinois, repre- 
senting almost every portion of the State. We are drawn 
together by the mournful events of the past few days, to 
give some feeble expression to the feelings we, in com- 
mon with the whole nation, realize as pressing us to the 
earth, by appropriate and respectful ceremonies. We 
thought it not inappropriate before we should separate, 
even in this sad hour, to seek this interview with your 
Excellency ; that, while the bleeding heart is pouring out its 
mournful anguish over the death of our beloved late Presi- 
dent, the idol of our State and the pride of the whole coun- 
trv, we mav earnestlv express to vou, the living head of this 
nation, our deliberate, full, and abiding confidence in you 
as the one who, in these dark hours, must bear upon your- 
self the mighty responsibility of maintaining, defending, and 
directing its affairs. In the midst of this sadness, through 
the oppressive gloom that surrounds us, we look to you 
and to a bright future for our country. The assassina- 
tion of the President of the United States deeply de- 
presses, and seriously aggravates the entire nation ; but 
under our blessed Constitution, it does not delay, nor for 
any great length of time retard its progress ; does not for 
an instant disorganize or threaten its destruction. The 
record of your whole past life, familiar to all, the splendor 
of your recent gigantic efforts to stay the hand of treason 
and assassination, and restore the flag to the uttermost 
bounds of the Republic, assure that noble State which we 
represent, and we believe, the people of the United States, 
that we may safely trust our destinies in your hands ; and 
to this end we come in the name of the State of Illinois, 
and, we confidently believe, fully and faithfully express- 
ing the wishes of our people, to present and pledge to 
you the cordial, earnest, and unremitting purpose of our 



LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDPtEW JOIIXSOX. 141 

State, to give your administration tlie strong support we 
have heretofore given to the administration of our lamented 
late President, the policy of whom we have heretofore, do 
now, and shall continue to endorse. 

THE PRESIDENT'S REPLY. 

President Johnson replied as follows : 

Gentlemen : — I have listened with profound emotion to 
the kind words you have addressed to me. The visit of 
this large delegation to speak to me through you, sir, these 
words of encouragement, I had not anticipated. In the 
midst of the saddening circumstances which surround us, 
and the immense responsibility thrown upon me, an ex- 
pression of the confidence of individuals, and still more 
of an influential body like that before me, representing a 
great commonwealth, cheers and strengthens my heavily 
burdened mind. I am at a loss for words to respond. 
In an hour like this, of deepest sorrow, were it possible 
to embody in words the feelings of my bosom, I could 
not command my lips to utter them. Perhaps the best 
reply I could make, and the one most readily appropriate 
to your kind assurances of confidence, would be to receive 
them in silence. (Sensation.) The throbbings of my 
heart since the sad catastrophe which has appalled us 
cannot be reduced to words; and, oppressed as 1 am with 
the new and great responsibility which has devolved upon 
me, and saddened with grief, 1 can with difficulty respond 
to you at all. But I cannot permit such expression of 
the confidence reposed in me by the people to pass with- 
out acknowledgment. To an individual like myself, who 
has never claimed much, but who has, it is true, received 
from a generous people many marks of trust and honoi 
for a long time, an occasion like this and a manifestation 
of public feeling so well-timed are peculiarly acceptable. 
Sprung from the people myself, every pulsation of thy 
popular heart finds an immediate answer in my own. By 
many men in public life such occasions are often consid- 
ered merely formal. To me they are real. Your words 
of countenance and encouragement sank deep in my heart, 
and were I even a coward I could not but gather from 
them strength to carry out my convictions of right. Thus 
feeling, I shall enter upon the discharge of my great duty 



142 LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 

firmly, steadfastly, {applause,) if not with the signal 
ability exhibited by my predecessor, which is still fresh in 
our sorrowing minds. Need I repeat that no heart feels 
more sensibly than mine this great affliction. In what I 
say on this occasion I shall indulge in no petty spirit of 
anger, no feeling of revenge. But we have beheld a no- 
table event in the history of mankind. In the midst of 
the American people, where every citizen is taught to 
obey law and observe the rules of Christian conduct, our 
Chief Magistrate, the beloved of all hearts, has been as- 
sassinated ; and when we trace this crime to its cause, 
when we remember the source whence the assassin drew 
his inspiration, and then look at the result, we stand yet 
more astounded at this most barbarous, most diabolical 
assassination. Such a crime as the murder of a great and 
good man, honored and revered, the beloved and the hope 
of the people, springs not alone from a solitary indi- 
vidual of ever so desperate wickedness. We can trace 
its cause through successive steps, without my enumera- 
ting them here, back to that source which is the spring 
of all our woes. No one can say that if the perpetrator 
of this fiendisli deed be arrested he should not undergo 
the extremest penalty the law knows for crime, none will 
say that mercy should interpose. But is he alone guilty? 
Here, gentlemen, you perhaps expect me to present some 
indication of my future policy. One thing I will say. 
Every era teaches its lesson. The times we live in are 
not without instruction. The American people must be 
taught — if they do not already feel — that treason is a 
crime and must be punished; {applause;) that the Gov- 
ernment will not always bear with its enemies ; that it is 
strong, not only to protect, but to punish. {Applause.) 
When we turn to the criminal code and examine the cata- 
logue of crimes, we there find arson laid down as a crime 
with its appropriate penalty ; we find there theft and rob- 
bery and murder given as crimes ; and there, too, we find 
the last and highest of crimes — treason. {Applause.) 
With other and inferior offences our people are familiar. 
But in our peaceful history treason has been almost un- 
known. The people must understand that it is the blackest 
of crimes, and will be surely punished. {Applause.) I 
make this allusion not to excite the already exasperated 
feelings of the public, but to point out the principles of 



LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 159 

of our g:reat State, who have no interest so strong as to 
interpose with tlieir love of country. They hope and be- 
lieve you will bring the country out of its present trouble ; 
and, above all things, they feel assured that, by your hand, 
no arrangement for peace will be made that does not put 
an end to slavery forever. 

THE PRESIDENT'S REPLY. 

Mr. Chairman and Gentlemen. — I can only reply in 
general terms ; and perhaps as good a reply as I can make 
would be to refer to or repeat what I have already said to 
other delegations who have come for the purpose of en- 
couraging and inspiring me with confidence on entering 
upon the discharge of duties so responsible, so perilous. 
All that I could now say would be but a reiteration of 
sentiments already indicated. The words you have spoken 
are most fully and cordially accepted and responded to by 
me. I, too, think the time has arrived when the people 
of this nation should understand that treason is a crime. 
When we turn to the catalogue of crime, we find that most 
of those contained in it are understood ; but the crime of 
treason has neither been generally understood nor generally 
appreciated as I think it should be ; and there has been an 
effort, since this rebellion commenced, to make the impres- 
sion that it was a mere political struggle, or, as I see it 
thrown out in some of the papers, a struggle for ascen- 
dancy of certain principles, from the dawn of the govern- 
ment, to the present time, and now settled by the final 
triumph of the Federal arms. If this is to be a deter- 
mined, settled idea and opinion, the government is at an 
end, for no question can arise but they will make it a party 
issue ; and then, to whatever length they carry it, the party 
defeated, will be only a party defe<ited, and no crime at- 
taches thereto. But, I say, treason is a crime — the highest 
crime known to the law — and the people ought to under- 
stand it, and be taught to know, that unless it be so con- 
sidered, there can be no government. I do not say this to 
indicate a revengeful or improper spirit. It is simply the 
enunciation of deliberate consideration and temperate judg- 
ment. 

There are men who ought to sufi'er the p{3nalties of their 
treason ; but there arc also some who have been engaged 
10 



160 LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 

in this rebellion who, while technically speakinp:, they are 
guilty of treason, yet who morally are not — thousands 
who have been drawn into it, involved by various influ- 
ences, by conscription, by dread, by force of public opinion 
in the localities in which they lived — these are not so re- 
sponsible as are those who led, deceived, and forced them. 
To the unconscious, deceived, conscripted — in short, to 
the great mass of the misled — I would say mercy, clem- 
ency, reconciliation, and the restoration of their Govern- 
ment. To those who have deceived — to the conscious, 
influential traitor, who attempted to destroy the life of a 
nation — I would say, on you be inflicted the severest pen- 
alties of your crime. (Applause.) 

I fully understand how easy it is to get up an impres- 
sion in regard to the exercise of mercy ; and if I know 
myself and my own heart, there is in it as great a dis- 
position to mercy as can be manifested on the part of any 
other individual ; but mercy without justice is a crime. 
In the exercise of mercy, there should be deliberate con- 
sideration and a profound understanding of the case; and 
I am not prepared to say but what it should often be 
transferred to a higher court, a court where mercy and 
justice can best be united. 

In responding to the remarks of your chairman in refer- 
ence to free government and the discharge of my duties, 
I can only say again, that my past public life must be 
taken as the guide to what my future will be. My course 
has been unmistakable and well defined. I know it is 
easy to cry out demagogue, but let that be as it may. If 
I have spent the toil of youth and the vigor of my life for 
the elevation of the great masses of the people, why it was 
a work of my own choosing, and I will bear the loss ; and 
if it is demagogism to please the people, if it is dema- 
gogism to strive for their welfare and amelioration, then 
I am a demagogue. I was always proud when my duties 
were so discharged that the people were pleased. 

A great monopoly (and the remarks of your chairman 
bring me to it) existed — that of slavery, and upon it rested 
an aristocracy. It is the work of freemen to put down 
monopolies. You have seen the attempt made by the 
monopoly of slavery to put down the free Government ; 
but the making of the attempt, thereby to control and 
destroy the Government, you have seen the Government 



LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 161 

put down the monopol}^ and destroy the institution. 
(Applause.) Institutions of any kind must be subordi- 
nate to the Government or the Government cannot stand. 
I do not care whether it be North or South. A Govern- 
ment based upon popular judgment must be paramount 
to all institutions that spring up under that Government ; 
and if, when they attempt to control the Government, the 
Government don't put them down, they will put it down. 
Hence, the main portion of my efforts have been devoted 
to the opposition of them. Hence, I have ever opposed 
aristocracy — opposed it in any shape. But there is a 
kind of suffrage that has always, that always will, 
command my respect and approbation — the aristocracy 
of talent, the aristocracy of virtue, the aristocracy of 
merit, or an aristocracy resting upon worth, the aristoc- 
racy of labor, resting upon honest industry, developing 
the industrial resources of the country, this commands my 
respect and admiration, my support in life. In regard to 
my future course in connection with this rebellion, nothing 
that I can say would be worth listening to, if my past is 
not sufficient guarantee. I can only add that I have 
never knowingly deceived the people, and never have be- 
trayed a friend, (applause), and God willing, never will. 
(Applause.) Accept my profound and sincere thanks 
for the encouragement you have given me, and believe 
me when I say that your encouragement and countenance, 
your confidence, are a great aid and a great spur to the 
performance of my duties. Once more I thank you for 
this manifestation of your regard and respect. 

COURAGE OF THE PRESIDENT. 

In the foregoing pages we have described the personal 
fearlessness of Andrew Johnson while Military Governor 
of Tennessee. This personal courage was put to a far 
more critical test after his accession to the Presidency of 
the United States. The assassination of Mr. Lincoln, 
the attempted murder of Secretary Seward and several 
members of his family, the supposed purpose to kill Sec- 
retary Stanton, Lieutenant-General Grant, and other 
prominent men in Washington, had filled the nation wit! 



162 LIFE AND SERVICE-S OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 

horror. The air was full of rumors of plots of treason and 
murder. No man in Washington City believed himself safe. 
Yet, during weeks of anxiety, President Johnson walked 
out and rode about as calmly as if he was a patriarch 
among his family. His immediate friends expostulated 
with him on what they considered his carelessness, but he 
regarded their solicitude as over-anxiety, and did not sur- 
round himself with janissaries or any sort of armed 
guards, though his temporary residence, (Mrs. Lincoln 
not having yet vacated the Executive Mansion,) was, by 
order of the Secretary of War, surrounded by a guard of 
soldiers. A gentleman meeting Mr. Johnson in the par- 
lor of the Kirkwood House just after his accession to the 
Presidency, asked : " Mr. President, is it wise for you 
thus to jeopard yourself ?" He replied: "Yes. I have 
already been shot at twice, you remember, without injury. 
Threatened men live long." 

THE LAST DAYS OF THE WAR— THE PRESI- 
DENT'S POLICY. 

During the latter half of the month of April and the 
first half of May, 1865, it must not be supposed that 
President Johnson was only occupied in receiving delega- 
tions of citizens and diplomatists and in making speeches. 
A thousand official cares occupied his hours in addition, 
and had his frame not have been of the sturdiest build, he 
must have broken down under the tremendous pressure 
brought upon him in these early days of his occupancy 
of the Presidential chair. The surrender of Lee's army 
and the possession by the Federal forces, of nearly the 
whole State of Virginia, brought with it a thousand grave 
questions of public policy, most of which are, even as we 
write, undecided. The negotiations of Major General W. 
T. Sherman with General Joseph E. Johnston, in North 
Carolina, and the serious error of General Sherman in al- 



LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHINSON. 163 

lowing inadmissible terms to the rebel Johnston also be- 
came a subject of the gravest consideration by the Presi- 
dent and Cabinet, and Mr. Johnson at once sent Lieuten- 
ant General Grant to North Carolina, with full power to 
countermand General Sherman's agreement with the rebel 
commander, and to accept the surrender of his forces on 
the same terms as those accorded to General Lee. 

The dispersion of Joseph E. Johnston's army, together 
with the scattered bands surrendered along with it, left no 
rebel force of consequence east of the Mississippi river, 
and the question of reconstruction at once overrode mili- 
tary policy and became the great subject of the hour. 
Notwithstanding the pressure upon him on this question, 
President Johnson preserved a wise reticence on the points 
growing out of this vitally important matter. Another 
grave matter occupied the attention of the President. 
The pursuit of the assassins of the late President had to 
be kept up, even after John Wilkes Booth had been 
tracked to his hiding place and shot dead. This matter 
alone was enough to keep his thoughts occupied during 
every waking hour. We may add to the topics which 
must have been ceaselessly present to the mind of the 
President, the public debt, increasing as it was with each 
day ; the diminution of the army and navy ; and the at- 
titude which the United States ought to occupy towards 
those foreign nations who have been eager to aid the 
rebels or who are attempting to plant their power on the 
continent of America in defiance of that cardinal Ameri- 
can principle, the Monroe doctrine. We give below such 
official utterances of the President and his Ministers as 
indicate the line he intends to pursue on the foregoing and 
cognate questions : 

APPOINTMENT OF A DAY OF HUMILIATION. 

Whereas, By my direction, the Acting Secretary of 
State, in a notice to the public on the 17th of April, 



164 LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 

requested the various religious denominations to assem- 
ble on the 10th of April, on the occasion of the obse- 
quies of Abraham Lincoln, late President of the United 
States, and to observe the same with appropriate ceremo- 
nies ; and 

Wliereas, Our Country has become one great house of 
mourning, where the head of the family has been taken 
away ; and believing that a special period should be as- 
signed for again humbling ourselves before Almighty 
God, in order that the bereavement may be sanctified 
to the nation ; now, therefore, in order to mitigate that 
grief on earth which can only be assuaged by communion 
with the Father in Heaven, and in compliance with the 
wishes of Senators and Representatives in Congress com- 
numicated to me by a resolution adopted at the National 
Capital, I, Andrew Johnson, President of the United 
States, do hereby appoint Thursday, the 25th of May, 
next, to be observed wherever in the United States the 
flag of the country may be respected, as a day of humilia- 
tion and mourning, and 1 recommend my fellow-citizens 
then to assemble in their respective places of worship, 
there to unite in solemn service to Almighty God, in 
memory of the good man who has been removed, so that 
all shall be occupied at the same time in the contempla- 
tion of his virtues, and sorrow for his sudden and violent 
end. 

In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and 
caused the seal of the United States to be aftixed. 

Done at the City of Washington, the 25th day of April, 
in the year of our Lord, 1865, and of the Independence of 
the United States of America the eighty-ninth. 

Andrew Johnson. 
By the President: 
W. Hunter, Acting Secretary of State. 

Subsequently the President, for reasons which will ap- 
pear therein, issued the subjoined supplementary Procla- 
mation, bearing on the same matter : 

, Whereas, By my proclamation of the 25th instant, Thurs- 
day, the 25th day of May, was recommended as a day of 
special humiliation and prayer in consequence of the assas- 
sination of Abraham Lincoln, late President of the United 



LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 165 

States, but whereas my attention has been called to the fact 
that the day aforesaid is sacred to large numbers of Chris- 
tians as one of rejoicing for the ascension of the Saviour : 
now, therefore, be it known that I, Andrew Johnson, Presi- 
dent of the United States, do hereby suggest that the re- 
ligious services recommended as aforesaid should be post- 
poned until Thursday, the first day of June next. 

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand and 
caused the seal of the United States to be affixed. 

Pone at the City of Washington, this 29th day of April, 
in the year of our Lord 1865, and of the Independence of 
the United States of America the eighty-ninth. 

Andrew Johnson. 
By the President : 

W. Hunter, Acting Secretary of Slate. 

REDUCTION OP MILITARY EXPENSES. 

By direction of the President, tlie following order was 
issued by the War Department : 

War Department, Adjutant- General's Office, 
Washington, D. C, April 28, 1865. 

General Orders, No. 77. — For reducing the expenses 
of the military establishment. 

Ordered : First. — That the chiefs of the respective 
bureaus of this Department proceed immediately to re- 
duce the expenses of their respective departments to what 
is absolutely necessary, in view of the immediate reduc- 
tion of the forces in the field and in garrison, and the 
speedy termination of hostilities, and that they severally 
make out statements of the reductions they deem practi- 
cable. 

Second. — That the Quartermaster-General discharge 
all ocean transports not required to bring home troops in 
remote departments. All river and inland transportation 
will be discharged except that required for the necessary 
supplies to troops in the field. Purchases of horses, mules, 
wagons, and other land transportation will be stopped ; 
also purchases of forage except what is required for im- 
mediate consumption. All purchases for railroad con- 
struction and transportation will also be stopped. 

Third. — That the Commissary-General of Subsistence 
discontinue the purchase of supplies in his Department, 



166 LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 

except of such as may, with what is on hand, be required 
for forces in the field to the first of June next. 

Fourth. — That the Chief of Ordnance stop all purchases 
of arms and ammunition and material therefor, and reduces 
the manufacture of arms and ordnance stores in the 
Government arsenals as rapidly as can be done without 
injury to the service. 

Fifth. — That the Chief of Engineers stop work on all 
field fortifications and other works except those for which 
specific appropriations have been made by Congress for 
completion or that may be required for the proper protec- 
tion of works in progress. 

Sixth. — That all soldiers in the hospitals who require 
no further medical treatment, be honorably discharged 
from service with immediate payment. All officers and 
enlisted men who have been prisoners of war and are on 
furlough or in parole camps, and all recruits in rendez- 
vous, except those for the Regular Army, will likewise be 
honorably discharged. 

Officers, whose duty it is, under the regulations of the 
service, to make out rolls and other final papers connected 
with the discharge and payment of soldiers, are directed 
to make them out without delay, so that this order may 
be carried into effect immediately. 

Seventh. — The Adjutant- General of the army will cause 
immediate returns to be made by all commanders in the 
field, garrisons, detachments and posts, of their respective 
forces, with a view to their immediate reduction. 

Eighth. — The Quartermaster's, Subsistence, Engineer 
and Provost-Marshal-General's Departments will reduce 
the number ol clerks and employees to that absolutely 
required for closing the business of their respective depart- 
ments ; and will, without delay, report to the Secretary of 
War the number required of each class or grade. The 
Surgeon-General will make similar reductions of surgeons, 
nurses and attendants in his bureau. 

Ninth. — The chiefs of the respective bureaus will im- 
mediately cause proper returns to be made out of the 
public property in their charge, and statements of the 
property in each that may be sold upon advertisement 
and publication without prc!Judicc to the service. 

Tenth. — The Coiumissarv of Prisoner?; will have rolls 



LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 167 

made out of the name, residence, time and place of capture, 
and occupation of all prisoners of war who will take the 
oath of allegiance to the United States, to the end that 
such as are disposed to become good and loyal citizens of 
the United States, and who are proper objects of Executive 
clemency, may be released upon the terms that the Presi- 
dent shall deem fit and consistent with public safety. 

By order of the Secretary of War. 

W. A Nichols. 

Official : 

Thomas W. Vincent, Assistant Adjutant- General. 

COMMERCE IN INSURRECTIONARY STATES. 

Executive Chamber, Washington, 

Saturday April 29, 1865. 

Executive Order. — Being desirous to relieve all loyal 
citizens and well-disposed persons residing in the insur- 
rectionary States from unnecessary commercial restrictions, 
and to encourage them to return to peaceful pursuits, it is 
hereby ordered : 

First. — That all restrictions upon internal, domestic and 
coastwise commercial intercourse be discontinued in such 
parts of the States of Tennesse, Virginia, North Carolina, 
South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, 
and so much of Louisiana as lies east of the Mississippi 
River, as shall be embraced within the lines of the National 
military occupation, excepting only such restrictions as 
are imposed by the acts of Congress, and regulations in 
pursuance thereof prescribed by the Secretary of the 
Treasury and approved by the President ; and excepting 
also from the effect of this order the following articles, 
contraband of war, to wit : Arms, ammunition, and all 
articles from which ammunition is manufactured, gray 
uniforms and cloth, locomotives, cars, railroad iron, and 
machinery for operating railroads, telegraph wires, insula- 
tors, and instruments for operating telegraph lines. 

Second. — All existing military and naval orders in an\^ 
manner restricting internal, domestic and coastwise com- 
mercial intercourse and trade with or in the localities 
above named, be and the same are hereby revoked, and 
that no military or naval officer in any manner interrupt 
or interfere with the same, or with any boats or other. 



1(38 LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 

vessels enoraged therein under proper authority pursuant 
to the regulations of the Secretary of the Treasury. 

Andrew Johnson. 



THE MILITARY COMMISSION FOR THE TRIAL 
OF THE ACCOMPLICES OF BOOTH. 

This court met on Tuesday, May 9th, 1865, in a room 
fitted up for the purpose, in the old penitentiary building, 
adjoining the arsenal grounds at Washington city. 

The following order was read : 

Executive Chamber, 
Washington City, Maij 1, 1865. 

Whei^eas the Attorney-General of the United States 
hath given his opinion : 

" That the persons implicated in the murder of the late 
President, Abraham Lincoln, and the attempted assassi- 
nation of the Honorable William H. Seward, Secretary 
of State, and in an alleged conspiracy to assassinate other 
officers of the Federal Government at Washington city, 
and their aiders and abettors, are subject to the jurisdic- 
tion of, and legally triable before, a military commis- 
sion :" 

It is ordered: 1st, That the Assistant- Adjutant-General 
detail nine competent military officers to serve as a com- 
mission for the trial of said parties, and that the Judge 
Advocate-General proceed to prefer charges against said 
parties for the alleged offences, and bring them to trial 
before said military commission ; that said trial or trials 
be conducted by the said Judge Advocate-General, arid, 
as recorder thereof, in person, aided by such assistant or 
special judge advocates as he may designate, and that 
said trials be conducted with all diligence consistent with 
the ends of justice : the said commission to sit without 
regard to hours. 

2d. That Brevet-Major-General Ilartranft be assigned 
to duty as special provost-marshal-general for the purposes 
of said trial' and attendance upon said commission and 
the execution of its mandates. 

3d. That the said commission establish such order or rules 



LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 169 

of proceeding as may avoid unnecessary delay and con- 
duce to the ends of public justice. 

Andrew Johnson. 
Adjutant-General's Office. 

Washington, D. C, 3Iay 6, 1865. 
Official copy. 

W. A. Nichols, Assistant- Adjutant- General. 

THE FLIGHT OF JEFFERSON DAVIS — CON- 
NECTION OF HIMSELF AND OTHER REBELS 
WITH THE ASSASSINATION. 

When the rebel General Lee telegraphed to Jefferson 
Davis, at Richmond, " My lines are broken, Richmond 
must be evacuated to-night," instant preparations 
for flight were taken by the leaders of the Rebellion. 
Such plunder as could be secured were taken southward 
with the fugitives, and the city was set on fire. Davis, 
Breckinridge, Benjamin, and other prominent leaders, 
kept together, under a heav^y cavalry escort, and made 
their way towards the Mississippi. While this hegira 
was in progress, it appears that the Bureau of Military 
Justice at Washington became acquainted with facts im- 
plicating Davis and other leading rebels in the murder of 
Mr. Lincoln. The subjoined proclamation was thereupon 
issued : 

Whereas, It appears from evidence in the Bureau of 
Military Justice that the atrocious murder of the late 
President, Abraham Lincoln, and the attempted assassi- 
nation of the Hon. W. H. Seward, Secretary of State, 
were incited, concerted, and procured by and between 
Jefferson Davis, late of Richmond, Va,, and Jacob 
Thompson, Clement C. Clay, Beverly Tucker, George N. 
Sanders, W. C. Cleary, and other rebels and traitors 
against the Government of the United States, harbored 
in Canada; now, therefore, to the end that justice may be 
done, I, Andrew Johnson, President of the United States, 
do offer and promise for the arrest of said persons, or 
either of them within the limits of the United States, so 
that they can be brought to trial, the following rewards : 



170 LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 

One hundred thousand dollars for the arrest of Jefferson 
Davis, twenty-five thousand dollars fur the arrest of 
Clement C. Clay ; twenty-five thousand dollars for the 
arrest of Jacob Thompson, late of Mississippi ; twenty- 
five thousand dollars for the arrest of George N. Sanders; 
twenty-five thousand dollars for the arrest of Beverly 
Tucker, and ten thousand dollars for the arrest of William 
C. Cleary, late Clerk of Clement C. Clay. 

The Provost-Marshal-General of the United States is 
directed to cause a description of said persons, with 
notice of the above rewards, to be published. 
In testimonny whereof I have hereunto set my hand, 

r- -| and caused the seal of the United States to be 

L ■ ■-' atlixed. 
Done at the City of Washington, the second day of May, 

in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred 

and sixty five, and of the Independence of the United 

States of America the eighty-ninth. 

Andrew Johnson. 
By the President: W. Hunter, Acting Secretary of State. 

RE-ESTABLISHMENT OF EEDERAL AUTHO- 
BITY IN VIRGINIA. 

On the 9th of May, 1865, the President issued the fol- 
lowing proclamation : 
Executive Chamber, Washington City, 3Iay 9, 1865. 

Executive order to reestablish the authority of the United 
States, and execute the laws within the geographical 
limits known as the State of Virginia. 
Oi^dered : 

First. — That all acts and proceedings of the political, 
military, and civil organizations which have been in a state 
of insurrection and rebellion, within the State of Virginia, 
against the authority and laws of the United States, and of 
which Jefferson Davis, John Letcher, and William Smith 
were late the respective chiefs, are declared null and void. 
All persons who shall exercise, claim, pretend, or attempt 
to exercise any political, military, or civil power, authority, 
jurisdiction, or right, by, througli, or under Jefferson Davis, 
late of the city of Riclmiond, and his confederates, or under 
John Letcher or William Smith and their confederates, or 
under any pretended political, military, or civil commibdiou 



LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 171 

or authority issued by them or either of them since the 17th 
day of April, 18(U, shall be deemed and taken as in rebel- 
lion against the United States, and shall be dealt with ac- 
cordingly. 

Second. — That tlie Secretary of State proceed to put in 
force all laws of the United States, the administration 
whereof belongs to the Department of State, applicable to 
the geograpliical limits aforesaid. 

Third. — That the Secretary of the Treasury proceed, 
without delay, to nominate for appointment, assessors of 
taxes and collectors of customs and internal revenue, and 
such other officers of the Treasury Department as are 
authorized by law, and shall put in execution the revenue 
laws of the United States within the geographical limits 
aforesaid. In making appointments, the preference shall 
be given to qualified loyal persons residing within the dis- 
tricts where their respective duties are to be performed. 
But if suitable persons shall not be found residents of the 
district, then persons residing in other States or districts 
shall be appointed. 

Fourth. — That the Postmaster-General shall proceed to 
establish post-offices and post routes, and put into execu- 
tion the postal laws of the United States, within the said 
State, giving to loyal residents the preference of appoint- 
ment ; but if suitable persons are not found, then to ap- 
point agents, etc., from other States. 

Fifth. — That the District Judge of said district proceed 
to hold courts within said State, in accordance with the 
provisions of the acts of Congress. The Attorney-Gen- 
eral will instruct the proper officers to libel, and bring to 
judgment, confiscation, and sale, property subject to con- 
fiscation, and enforce the administration of justice within 
said State, in all matters, civil and criminal, within the 
cognizance and jurisdiction of the Federal courts. 

Sixth. — That the Secretary of War assign such Assistant- 
Provost-Marshal-General, and such Provost-Marshals in 
each district of said State as he may deem necessary. 

Seventh. — The Secretary of the Navy will take posses- 
sion of all public property belonging to the Navy Depart- 
ment within said geographical limits, and put in operation 



172 LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 

all acts of Congress in relation to naval affairs having ap- 
plication to the said State. 

Eighth. — The Secretary of the Interior will also put in 
force the laws relating to the Department of the Interior. 

Ninth. — That to carry into the effect the guarantee of the 
Federal Constitution of a republican form of State Govern- 
ment, and afford the advantage and security of domestic 
laws, as well as to complete the reestablishment of the 
authority of the laws of the United States, and the full and 
complete restoration of peace within the limits aforesaid, 
Francis H. Pierpont, Governor of the State of Yirgiuia, 
will be aided by the Federal Government, so far as may be 
necessary, in the lawful measures which he may take for the 
extension and administration of the State government 
throughout the geographical limits of said State. 

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and 
P -1 caused the seal of the United States to be affixed. 

L ■-' Andrew Johnson. 

By the President : 
W. Hunter, Acting Secretary of State. 

VIRTUAL CLOSE OF THE REBELLION- 
PIRATICAL CRUISERS. 

On the tenth of May, 1865, the President issued the 
following Proclamation : 

Whereas, The President of the United States, by his 
Proclamation of the nineteenth day or April, one thousand 
eight hundred and sixty-one, did declare certain States 
therein mentioned, in insurrection against the government 
of the United States ; 

And whereas armed resistance to the authority of this 
Government, in the said insurrectionary States, may be re- 
garded as virtually at an end, and the persons by whom 
that resistance, as well as the operations of insurgent 
cruisers, were directed, are fugitives or captives ; 

And whereas it is understood that some of those cruisers 
are still infesting the higli seas, and others are preparing 
to capture, burn, and destroy vessels of the United States ; 

Now, therefore, be it known. That I, Andrew Johnson, 
President of the United States, hereby enjoin all naval, 
military, and civil officers of the United States, diligently 
to endeavor, by all lawful means, to arrest the said 



LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 173 

cruisers, and to bring tlicm into a port of the United 
States, in order that they may be prevented from commit- 
ting further depredations on commerce, and that the per- 
sons on board of them may no longer enjoy impunity for 
their crimes. 

And I further proclaim and declare, that if, after a 
reasonable time shall have elapsed for this Proclamation 
to become known in the ports of nations claiming to have 
been neutrals, the said insurgent cruisers, and the persons 
on board of them, shall continue to receive hospitality in 
the said ports, this Government will deem itself justilied in 
refusing hospitality to the public vessels of such nations 
in ports of the United States, and in adopting such other 
measures as may be deemed advisable toward vindicating 
the national sovereignty. 

In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand, and 
caused the seal of the United States to be affixed. 

Done at the City of Washington, this tenth day of May, 
in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and 
sixty-five, and of the Independence of the United States 
of America the eighty-ninth. 

Andrew Johnson. 
By the President: 
W. Hunter, Acting Secretary of State. 

RULES AND REGULATIOlSrS CONCERNING 
COMMERCIAL INTERCOURSE WITH INSUR- 
RECTIONARY STATES. 

EXECUTIVE ORDER. 

Executive Chamber, Washington, April 29, 1865. 

Being desirous to relieve all loyal citizens and well-dis- 
posed persons residing in insurrectionary States from un- 
necessary commercial restrictions, and to encourage them 
to return to peaceful pursuits, it is hereby ordered : 

I. — That all restrictions upon internal, domestic, and 
coastwise commercial intercourse be discontinued in such 
parts of the States of Tennessee, Virginia, North Carolina, 
South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, 
and so much of Louisiana as lies east of the Mississippi 
river, as shall be embraced within the lines of national mili- 
tary occupation, excepting only such restrictions as are im- 
posed by acts of Congress and regulations in pursuance 



174: LIFE AXD SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 

thereof, prescribed by the Secretary of the Treasury, and 
approved by the President ; and excepting also from the 
ellect of this order the foHovving artiehis, contraband of 
war, to wit : arms, ammunition, all articles from which 
ammunition is manufactured, gray uniforms and cloth, loco- 
motives, cars, railroad iron, and machinery for operating 
railroads, telegraph wires, insulators, and instruments for 
operating telegra})hic lines, 

II. — That all existing military and naval orders in any 
manner restricting internal, domestic, and coastwise com- 
mercial intercourse and trade with or in the localities above 
named be, and the same are hereby, revoked ; and that no mil- 
itary or naval officer, in any manner, interrupt or interfere 
with the same, or with any boats or other vessels engaged 
therein, under proper authority, pursuant to the regulations 
of the Secretary of the Treasury, Andrew Johnson. 

RULES AND REGULATIONS. 

Treasury Department, May 9, 1865. 
With a view of carrying out the purposes of the Execu- 
tive, as expressed in his executive order, bearing date April 
29, 1865, "to relieve all loyal citizens and well-disposed 
persons residing in insurrectionary States from unnecessary 
commercial restrictions, and to encourage them to return 
to peaceful pursuits," the following regulations are pre- 
scribed, and will hereafter govern commercial intercourse 
in and between the States of Tennessee, Virginia, North 
Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mis- 
sissippi, and Louisiana, east of the Mississippi river, here- 
tofore declared in insurrection, and the loyal States: 

I. 

All commercial transactions under these regulations shall 
be conducted under the supervision of officers of the cus- 
toms, and others acting as officers of the customs. 

II. PROHIBITED ARTICLES, 

The following articles are prohibited, and none such will 
be allowed to be transported to or witliin any State hereto- 
fore declared in insurrection, except on Government account, 
viz : Arms, ammunition, all articles from which ammuni- 
tion is manufactured, gray uniforms and cloth, locomotives, 



LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 175 

<;ars, railroad iron, and machinery for operating railroads, 
telegraph wires, insulators, and instruments for operating 
telegraph lines. 

III. AMOUNTS OF PRODUCTS ALLOWED, AND PLACES TO 
•WHICH SUCH MAY BE TRANSPORTED. 

It having been determined and agreed upon by the 
proper officers of the War and Treasury Departments, in 
accordance with the requirement of section 9 of the act of 
July 2, 1864, that the amount of goods required to supply 
the necessities of loyal persons residing in insurrectionary 
States, within the milit&,ry lines of the United States forces, 
shall be an amount equal to the aggregate of the applications 
therefor, and that the places to which such goods may be 
taken shall be, all places within such lines that may be 
named in the several applications for transportation there- 
to ; it is therefore directed that clearance shall be granted, 
upon application, by any loyal person or party, for all goods 
or merchandise not prohibited, in such amounts, and to 
such places which, under the revenue and collection laws of 
the United States, have been created ports of entry and 
delivery in the coastwise trade, as the applicant may desire. 

IV. CLEARANCE. 

Before any vessel shall be cleared for any port within 
the insurrectionary States, or from one port to another 
therein, or from any such ports to a port in the loyal 
States, the master of every such vessel shall present to 
the proper officer of customs, or other officer acting as 
such, a manifest of her cargo, which manifest shall set 
forth the character of the merchandise composing said 
cargo, and, if showing no prohibited articles, shall be cer 
tilled by such officer of the customs. 

V. ARRIVAL AND DISCHARGE OF CARGO IN AN INSURREC 
TIONARY STATE. 

On the arrival of any such vessel at the port of desti- 
nation, it shall be the duty of the master thereof forthwith 
to present to the proper officer of the customs the certi- 
fied manifest of her cargo ; whereupon the officer shall 
cause the vessel to be discharged under his general super- 
vision ; and, if the cargo is found to correspond with the 
11 



176 LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 

manifest, a certificate to that effect shall be given to said 
master. 

If there shall be found on board any prohibited articles, 
such articles shall be seized and held subject to the orders 
of the Secretary of the Treasury ; and the officer shall 
forthwith report to the Department all the facts of the 
case ; and any such vessel arriving from any foreign port, 
or from any domestic port without a proper clearance, or 
with contraband articles on board, shall, with the cargo, 
be seized and held as subject to confiscation under the 
laws of the United States. 

VI. LADING WITHIN AND DEPARTURE FROM AN INSURREC- 
TIONARY STATE. 

Vessels in ports within an insurrectionary State, not 
declared by proclamation open to the commerce of the 
world, shall l^e laden under the supervision of the proper 
officer of this Department, whose duty it shall be to 
require, before any articles are allowed to bo shipped, 
satisfactory evidence that upon all merchandise so ship- 
ped, the taxes and fees required by law and these regu- 
lations have been paid or secured to be paid, which 
fact, with the amount so paid, shall be certified upon 
the manifest before clearance shall be granted ; and if, 
upon any article so shipped, the fees and internal revenue 
taxes, or either, shall only have been secured to be paid, 
such fact shall be noted upon the manifest, and the 
proper officer at the port of destination of such vessel 
shall hold the goods until all such taxes and fees shall be 
paid according to law and these regulations. 

VII. SUPPLY STORES. 

Persons desiring to keep a supply store at any place 
within an insurrectionary State, shall make application 
therefor to the nearest officer of the Treasury Department, 
which application shall set forth that the applicant is 
loyal to the Government of the United States ; and upon 
filing evidence of such loyalty, a license for such supply 
store shall forthwith be granted : and the person to whom 
the license is given shall be authorized to purchase goods 
at any other supply store within the insurrectionary 
States, or at such other point in the United States as ho 
may select. 



LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 177 

The party receiving such license shall pay therefor the 
license fee prescribed by the Internal Revenue Law. 

VIII. EXEMPTED ARTICLES. 

All articles of local production and consumption, such 
as fresh vegetables, fruits, butter, ice, eggs, fresh meat, 
wood, coal, &c., may, without fee or restriction, be freely 
transported and sold at such points within an insurrec- 
tionary State as the owner thereof may desire. 

IX. SHIPMENT OF PRODUCTS OF AN INSURRECTIONARY STATE. 

All cotton not produced by persons with their own 
labor, or with the labor of freedmen or others employed 
and paid by them, must, before shipment to any port or 
place in a loyal State, be sold to and resold by an officer 
of the Government especially appointed for the purpose, 
Tinder regulations prescribed by the Secretary of the 
Treasury and approved by the President; and, before 
allowing any cotton or other product to be shipped or 
granting clearance for any vessel, the proper customs 
officer, or other persons acting as such, must require from 
the purchasing agent or the internal revenue officer a cer- 
tificate that cotton proposed to be shipped has been resold 
by him, or that twenty-five per cent, of the value thereof 
has been paid to such purchasing agent in money, and 
that the cotton is thereby free from further fee or tax. 
If the cotton proposed to bo shipped is claimed and proved 
to be the product of a person's own labor or of freedmen 
or others employed and paid by them, the officer will re- 
quire that the shipping fee of three cents per pound shall 
be paid or secured to be paid thereon. 

If any product other than cotton is offered for ship- 
ment, the certificate of the internal revenue officer, that 
all internal taxes due thereon have been collected and 
paid, must be produced prior to such products being 
shipped or cleared ; and if there is no internal revenue 
officer, then such taxes shall be collected by the customs 
officer, or he shall cause the same to be secured to be paid 
as provided in these Regulations. 

X. INLAND TRANSPORTATION. 

The provisions of these regulations, necessarily modi- 
fied, shall be considered applicable to all shipments, inland 



178 LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 

to or within insurrectionary States by any means of trans- 
portation whatsoever. 

XI. CHARGES. 

Goods not prohibited may be transported to insur- 
rection aiy States free. 

The charges upon all products shipped or transported 
from an insurrectionary State, other than upon cotton, 
shall be the charges prescribed by the internal revenue 
laws. Upon cotton, other than that purchased and resold 
by the Government, three cents per pound, which must 
be credited by the officer collecting, as follows, viz : two 
cents per pound as the internal tax, and one cent per 
pound as the shipping fee. All cotton purchased and re- 
sold by the Government shall be allowed to be transported 
free from all fees and taxes whatsoever. 

XII. RECORDS TO BE KEPT. 

Full and coniplete accounts and records must be kept, 
by all officers acting under these regulations, of their trans- 
actions under them, in such manner and form as shall be 
prescribed by the Commissioner of Customs. 

XIIT. LOYALTY A REQUISITE. 

No goods shall be sold in an insurrectionary State by 
or to, nor any transaction held with any person or persons 
not loyal to the Government of the United States. 

Proof of loyalty must be the taking and subscribing the 
following oath of evidence, to be filed, that it or one 
similar in purport and meaning, has been taken, viz : 

*' I, , do solemnly swear, in presence of 

Almighty God, that I will henceforth faithfully support, 
protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States, 
and all laws made in pursuance thereto." 

FORMER REGULATIONS REVOKED. 

These regulations shall take effect and be in force on 
and after the 10th day of May, 1865, and shall supersede 
all other Regulations and Circulars heretofore prescribed by 
the Treasury Department concerning commercial inter- 
course between loyal and insurrectionary States, all of 
which are hereby rescinded and annulled. 

Hugh McCulloch, 

Secretary of the Treasury. 



LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 179 

Executive Chamber, Washington City, May 9, 1865. 

The foregoing rules and regulations concerning com- 
mercial intercourse with and in States and parts of States 
declared in insurrection, prescribed by the Secretary of the 
Treasury in conformity with acts of Congress relating 
thereto, having been seen and considered by mc, are 
hereby approved. Andrew Johnson. 



ADDRESS TO COLORED PEOPLE. 

On Thursday, May 11th, 1865, President Johnson gave 
an audience to a number of colored men. They were 
introduced by Rev. E. Turner, the President of the 
National Theological Institute for Colored Ministers, the 
centre of whose operations are in the city of Washington. 
Mr. Turner said, in the course of his address, that some of 
them were members of the Institute and pastors of 
churches, while others had been preaching to their own 
people in different sections of Virginia, coming in con- 
tact with a colored population of, probably not less than two 
or three hundred thousand souls, thus exerting a healthful 
influence on their social and liioral condition. He gave to 
the President a copy of the resolutions passed by them 
with reference to the assassination of President Lincoln, 
and expressive of their gratitude for the Emancipation 
Proclamation, and their loyalty to the constituted authori- 
ties, etc. 

President Johnson, in response, remarked that it was 
scarcely necessary for him to repeat what his course had 
been in relation to the colored man, as everybody within 
the reach of information had already been made acquainted 
with it. It was known that though he was born and 
raised in a slave State, and had owned Slaves, yet he had 
never sold one and they have all gone free. There was a 
difference in the responsibility which persons who reside 
in the slave States have to take on the subject of emanci- 
pation from those who reside out of them. It was very 



180 LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 

easy for meQ who live beyond their borders, to get up a 
sympathy and talk about the condition of colored persons 
when they knew nothing about it. Their great sympathy 
was not reduced to practice. It was known that there 
were men in the South, notwithstanding the two classes 
once occupied the position of master and servant, who 
felt a deep interest in their welfare, and did much to 
ameliorate the condition of the Freedmen. He repeated that 
it would be unnecessary for him to make a profession of 
what he had done on the subject of Emancipation, for 
which he met with taunts, frowns and jibes, and incurred all 
kinds of dangers to property, life and limb. He claimed no 
merit for this, because he was only carrying out the princi- 
ples he always entertained, namely, that man could not 
hold property in man. And he was the first who stood 
in a slave community and announced the fact that the 
slaves of the State of Tennessee had as much right to be 
free as those who claimed them as their property. When 
the tyrant's rod is bent, and the yoke broken, the passing 
from one extreme to the other, from bondage to freedom, 
is difficult, and in this transition state, some think they 
have nothing to do but fall back upon the Government for 
support, in order that they may be taken care of in idle- 
ness and debauchery. There was an idea which those 
whom he addressed ought to inculcate, namely, that 
freedom simply means liberty to work and to enjoy the 
product of a man's own toil, and how much he may put 
into his stomach and on his back. He meant this in its 
most extensive sense. Gentlemen in Congress and people 
of the North and South, talk about Brigham Young and 
debauchery of various kinds existing among the Mormons, 
but it was known that four millions of people within the 
limits of the South have always been in open and notori- 
ous concubinage. The correction of these things is neces- 
sary in commencing a reform in the social condition, and 



LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 181 

ia this there must be a force of example. He would do 
all in his power to secure their protection and ameliorate 
their condition. He trusted in God the time may come 
when all the colored people may be gathered together in 
one country best adapted to their condition, if it should 
appear that they could not get along well together with 
the whites. He expressed the hope that the efforts for 
their social and moral improvement would be successful, 
and in this he promised his co-operation ; and in conclu- 
sion he thanked his audience for their manifestations of 
kindness and the evidences of their friendship. 

A FOREIGN CONSUL APPOINTED AT 
RICHMOND. 

As a proper supplement to the official announcements 
of the restoration of the authority of the Federal Govern- 
ment of Virginia, the following may be cited : 

OFFICIAL. 
Andrew Johnson, President of tJw United States of America. 

TO ALL WHOM IT MAY CONCERN. 

Satisfactory evidence having been exhibited to me that 
Daniel Von Groning has been appointed Vice Consul 
of Italy, at Richmond, I do hereby recognize him as 
such, and declare him free to exercise and enjoy such 
functions, powers, and privileges, as are allowed to Vice 
Consuls by the law of nations, or by the laws of the 
United States, and existing treaty stipulations between 
the Government of Italy and the United States. 

In testimony whereof, I have caused these letters to be 
made Patent, and the seal of the United States to bo 
hereunto affixed. 
Given under my hand at the city of Washington, the tenth 

day of May, Anno Domini one thousand eight 
[seal.] hundred and sixty-five, and of the Independence 

of the United States of America, the eighty-ninth. 

Andrew Johnson. 
By the President. W. Hunter, Acting Secretury of State, 



182 LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 

RECEPTION OF THE FRENCH MINISTER. 

The Marquis de Montholon was on Saturday, May 13th, 
1865, introduced to the President by the Acting Secretary 
of State, and delivered his credentials as Envoy Extra- 
ordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary of his Majesty the 
Ernperor of the French. The Marquis made some re- 
marks upon the occasion, of which the following is a 
translation : 

Mr. President — I have the honor to place in your 
hands the letter of the Emperor of the French, which 
accredits me in the character of Envoy Extraordinary and 
Minister Plenipotentiary near your Excellency. If I seek 
for what may have determined his Imperial Majesty to 
give me this distinguished mark of his confidence, I can 
attribute it only to the recollection of the ties which 
already attach me to this country. The personal relations 
which I have previously contracted in it during a long 
sojourn, and the sympathies of which I am proud to have 
received numerous proofs, have made me appear without 
doubt better prepared than another to serve as the in- 
terpreter of the sentiment which animates the Imperial 
Government towards the Government and the people of 
the United States. In fact, glorious traditions, the im- 
portance v/hereof we maintain with pride, do not permit 
that France should ever be indifferent to the destinies of 
this great republic. Immense interests, which every day 
develop themselves more fully, will draw together more 
and more closely this noble and ancient alliance. / am 
happy to bring hither on a solemn occasion the loyal and 
frank expressions of the wishes which the Emperor, my 
August Sovereign, forms for the complete restoration of 
peace and concord on the continent of America. The 
whole of France participates in the same thought, and 
will always view with satisfaction the consolidation, the 
prosperity and the greatness of the United States. Ani- 
mated by the sentiments of deep sympathy with the 
American Union, their Imperial Majesties and France 
share equally with their whole nation in the grief in 
which the most atrocious of crimes has just plunged the 
government and the people of the United States. 



LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 183 

THE PRESIDENT'S BEPLY. 

The President replied as follows : — 

M. Lii Marquis de Montholon — I cannot forbear to 
welcome as the diplomatic representative of France a gen- 
tleman who claims to be so strongly attached to the United 
States by those ties incident to family connection and long 
previous official residence in this country, to which you so 
gra-cefully allude. The intimacy with the head of vour own 
government, which has resulted from well known antecedents, 
cannot fail to imparl perhapa, universal confidence to their 
rej^resentationa in respect to his purposes and policy 
with reference to the United States. The people of this 
country have a traditional regard for France, which was 
originally so deeply planted, and has been so universally 
and warmly cherished, that it must continue to flourish 
and expand, unless it should be checked by events most 
uncommon, not to be anticipated by ordinary foresight. 
I trust that the result of your mission will be to strengthen 
and perpetuate the good understanding between our two 
governments, and that perfect peace may be restored on 
the American continent pursuant to the wishes of your 
sovereign to which you refer. I offer you my hearty thanks 
for the sympathy which you express in behalf of their Im- 
perial Majesties for the recent tragical events in this 
metropolis. 

OPENING OF SOUTHERN PORTS. 

OFFICIAL— DEPARTMENT OF STATE. 
By the President of the United States of America. 

A PROCLAMATION. 

Whereas, by the Proclamation of the President of the 
eleventh day of April last, certain ports of the United 
States therein specified, which had previously been subject 
to blockade, were, for objects of public safety, declared in 
conformity with previous special legislation of Congress, 
to be closed against foreign commerce during the national 
will, to be thereafter expressed and made known by the 
President ; and, whereas, events and circumstance* have 
since occurred, which, in my judgment, render it expedient 
to remove that restriction, except as to the ports of Gal- 
veston, La Salle, Brasos de Santiago (Point Isabel,) and 
Brownsville, in the State of Texas : 



181 LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 

Now, therefore, be it known that I, Andrew JohnsoN; 
President of the United States, do hereby declare that the 
ports aforesaid, not excepted as above, shall be open to 
foreign commerce from and after the first day of July, 
next ; that commercial intercourse with the said ports, may, 
from that time be carried on subject to the laws of the 
United States and in pursuance of such regulations as may 
be prescribed by the Secretary of the Treasury. If, how- 
ever, any vessel from a foreign port shall enter any of the 
before named excepted ports in the State of Texas, she 
will continue to be held liable to the penalties prescribed 
by the act of Congress approved on the thirteenth day of 
July, eighteen hundred and sixty-one, and the persons on 
board of her to such penalties as may be incurred, pursu- 
ant to the laws of war, for trading or attempting to trade 
with an enemy. 

And I, Andrew Johnson, President of the United 
States, do hereby declare and make known that the United 
States of America do, henceforth, disallow to all persons 
trading, or attempting to trade, in any ports of the United 
States in violation of the laws thereof, all pretence of bel- 
ligerent rights and privileges, and I give notice that, from 
the date of this Proclamation, all such oflfenders will be 
held and dealt with as pirates. 

It is also ordered that all restrictions upon trade hereto- 
fore imposed in the territory of the United States east of 
the Mississippi river, save those relating to contraband of 
war, to the reservation of the rights of the United States 
to property purchased in the territory of an enemy, and to 
the twenty-five per cent, upon purchases of cotton, are 
removed. All provisions of the internal revenue law will 
be carried into eftect under the proper ojQQcers. 

In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and 
caused the seal of the United States to be affixed. 

Done at the City of Washington, this twenty-second day 

of May, in the year of our Lord one thousand 

P -, eight hundred and sixty-five, and of the Inde- 

L ^ ■ -• pendence of the United States of America the 

eighty-ninth. Andrew Johnson. 

By the President. W. Hunter, Acting Secretanj of State. 



LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 185 

PRESIDENT JOHNSON DECLINES A TESTI- 
MONIAL. 

A number of the prominent citizens of New York desired 
to present to President Johnson a carriage, span of horses, 
with harness, blankets, etc., as a token of their high appre- 
ciation of his fidelity to the country, but the President has 
respectfully declined receiving them, as will be seen by the 
following correspondence. 

THE CITIZENS TO PRESIDENT JOHNSON. 

The undersigned, citizens of New York, take great 
pleasure in sending to Washington, by the Camden and 
Amboy Railroad cars, a coach, span of horses, harness, 
blankets, etc., respectfully asking Andrew Johnson, Presi- 
dent of the United States, to accept the same, as a token 
of their high appreciation of his fidelity to the country — 
as a statesman well approved, by word and deed, in all the 
various offices to which he has been called. 

New York, 3Iaij 17, 1865. 
M. Armstrong & Sons, Ketchum, Son & Co., 

Daniel G. Ross, Shepherd Knapp, 

n. A. Smythe, P. Hayden, 

Lathrop, Luddington & Co., Winslow, Lanier & Co., 
S. B. Chittenden, Hoyt Brothers, 

Hoover, Calhoun & Co., H. B. Claflin, 

John R. Lawrence & Co., Hunt, Tillinghast & Co., 
A. A. Low, Sprague, Cooper & Col- 

Peter Cooper, burn, 

C. H. Marshall, Eugene Kelly & Co., 

Wm. W. DeForest & Co., Vermilye & Co., 
Wm. n. Fogg, Henry Clews & Co., 

Phelps, Dodge & Co., Reeve, Case & Banks, 

J. S. Schultz, H. J. Baker, 

Chas. A. Meigs & Sons, Daniel Drew, 

Hall, South wick & Co., Edwin Hoyt, 

Arnold, Constable & Co., E. A. Quintard, 
Wicks, Smith & Co , Arthur Leary, 

Wilson G. Hunt, George H. Potts, 

L. P. Morton & Co., Chas. B. Fosdick. 



186 LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHXSON. 

PRESIDENT JOHNSON'S REPLY. 

Washington City, May 22, 1S65. 

3Iessrs. A. A. Loiv, Esq.; Phelps,* Dodye S Co.; Hoyl 
Brothers ; J. S. SchuUz, and others : 

Gentlemen : I am in receipt of your very compli- 
mentary note, dated New York, May IT, 1865, wherein 
you request my acceptance of a coach, span of horses, 
harness, etc., as a token of your high appreciation of 7iiy 
public course. 

While I fully appreciate the purity of your motives in 
thus tendering to me such substantial evidence of your 
regard and esteem, I am compelled, solely from the con- 
victions of duty I have ever held in reference to the ac- 
ceptance of presents by those occupying high official 
positions, to decline the offerings of kind and loyal friends. 

The retention of the parchment conveying your senti- 
ments, and the autographs of those who were pleased to 
unite in this manifestation of regard, is a favor I would 
ask ; and I assure you, gentlemen, I shall regard it as one 
of the highest marks of respect from any portion of my 
fellow-citizens. 

Trusting that I shall continue to merit your confidence 
and esteem in the discharge of the high and important 
duties upon which I have but just pntered, and with the 
best wishes for your health, etc., individually. 

I am, gentlemen, yours truly, 

Andrew Johnson. 

The gentlemen who procured the testimonial referred to, 
on receiving President Johnson's reply, published the fol- 
lowing card over their several signatures : 

CARD TO THE PUBLIC. 

The undersigned submit the foregoing correspondence 
to the public, disappointed, indeed, that their proffered 
gift is declined ; but, notwithstanding their disappointment, 
feeling gratified that the President of the United States is 
governed by such lofty views of duty. 

They willingly submit their own motives to the public 
tribunal, to whose judgment they oiler the foregoing cor- 
respondence, claiming only to unite with their fellow-citi- 
zens in the meed of honor that will be so generously 
awarded to the President of the United Stat ,s. 



LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 187 

REORGANIZATION OF THE UNION.— CONFIS- 
CATION OF PROPERTY.— RIGHTS OF CITI- 
ZENSHIP, ETC. 

It is needless to advert to the anxiety which has re- 
cently possessed all minds in reference to the reorganiza- 
tion of the Union, the confiscation of property, and the 
tests of citizenship since the rebellion has been crushed, 
and the authority of the Union has become paramount 
once more. It gives us, therefore, great pleasure to be 
able to present in these pages, official copies of several 
documents bearing directly on these important questions, 
and indicating unerringly the line of policy President 
Johnson intends steadily to pursue. The documents re- 
ferred to have already become historic, though beyond the 
columns of the daily press they have not yet passed. 
First we present the 

OPINION OF ATTORNEY-GENERAL SPEED, IN 
RELATION TO THE AMNESTY PROCLAMA- 
TIONS OF PRESIDENT LINCOLN. 

Attorney- General's Office, May \st, 1865. 
To the President : 

Sir : I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of 
your letter of the 21st of April, 1865. 

By the Constitution of the United States (2d art., sec. 
2, cl. 1,) the President is vested with the "power to 
grant reprieves and pardons for offences against the United 
States, except in cases of impeachment." 

By the thirteenth section of the act of Congress, entitled 
"An act to suppress insurrection, to punish treason and 
rebellion, to seize and confiscate the property of rebels, 
and for other purposes," approved 17th of July, 1862, " the 
President is authorized, at any time hereafter, by procla- 
mation, to extend to persons who may have participated 
in the existing rebellion, in any State or part thereof, 
pardon and amnesty, with such exceptions, and at such 
time and on such conditions, as he may deem expedient 
for the public welfare." 

The right and power of the President to pardon, and to 



188 LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 

issne any Proclamation of Amnesty, are derived from the 
clauses in the Constitution and the act of Congress as 
quoted above. 

By the Constitution and the act of Congress, the power 
to pardon in individual cases, and the power of extending, 
by Proclamation, amnesty to classes of individuals, are 
solely in the hands of the President. It is, therefore, 
needless to discuss the question whether the act of Con- 
gress was necessary in order to enable the President 
lawfully to issue a proclamation of pardon and amnesty. 

The power of exercising and extending mercy resides 
in some department of every well-ordered government. 
When order and peace reign, its exercise is frequent and 
its influence valuable. Its influence is of value inestima- 
ble at the termination of an insurrection so wide-spread as 
the one which in our country is just being suppressed. 
Its appropriate office is to soothe and heal, not to keep 
alive or irritate the rebellious and malignant passions 
that induced, precipitated, and sustained the insurrection. 
This power to soothe and heal is appropriately vested in 
the executive department of the Government, whose duty 
it is to recognize and declare the existence of an insurrec- 
tion, to suppress it by force, and to proclaim its suppres- 
sion. In order, then, that this benign power of the Gov- 
ernment should accomplish the objects for which it was 
given, the extent and limits of the power should be 
clearly understood. Therefore, before proceeding to 
answer the questions propounded in your letter, it would 
seem to be eminently proper to state some of the obvious 
principles upon which the power to grant pardons and 
amnesty rests, and deduce from those principles the limi- 
tations of that power. 

The words amnesty and pardon have a usual and well- 
understood meaning. Neither is defined in any act of 
Congress ; the latter is not used in the Constitution. 

A pardon is a remission of guilt ; an amnesty is an act 
of oblivion or forgctfulness. 

They are acts of sovereign mercy and grace, flowing 
from the appropriate organ of the Government. 

Ther? can be no pardon where there is no actual or 
imputed guilt. The acceptance of pardon is the confes- 
sion of guilt, or of the existence of a state of facts from 
which a judgment of guilt would follow. 



LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON". 189 

A pardon may be absolute and complete, or it may be 
conditional and partial. The whole penalty denounced by 
the law against an offender may be forgiven, or so much 
of it only as may seem expedient. The power to pardon 
is not exhausted by its partial use, A part of the penalty 
may be forgiven now, and at a future time another part, 
and so on till the whole is forgiven. This power may be 
so used as to place the offender upon trial and probation 
as to his good faith and purposes. 

A pardon may be upon conditions, and those conditions 
may be precedent or subsequent. 

The conditions, however, appended to a pardon cannot 
be immoral, illegal, or inconsistent with the pardon. 

If a condition precedent annexed to a pardon be im- 
moral, as that the person in whose favor it is issued 
should never speak the truth ; or illegal, as that ho should 
commit murder ; or inconsistent with the pardon, as that 
he should never eat or sleep ; the pardon would never 
attach or be of avail. On the other hand, if those con- 
ditions were subsequent — that is, if it were declared that 
the pardon should be void if the party ever spoke the 
truth, or if he did not commit murder, or if he should eat 
or sleep — the pardon would attach and be valid, and the 
condition void and of no effect. If a condition subsequent 
is broken, the offender could be tried and punished for the 
original offence. The breach of the condition would make 
the pardon void. Any conditions, precedent or subse- 
quent, may, therefore, be appended that are not immoral, 
illegal, or inconsistent with the pardon. This great and 
sovereign power of mercy can never be used as a cover 
for immoral or illegal conduct. 

As a pardon presupposes that an offence has been com- 
mitted, and ever acts upon the past, the power to grant 
it never can be exerted as an immunity or license for 
future misdoing. 

A pardon procured by fraud, or for a fraudulent pur- 
pose, upon the suppression of the truth or the suggestion 
of falsehood, is void. It is a deed of mercy, given with- 
out other fee or reward than the good faith, truth, and 
repentance of the culprit. On the other hand, as an act 
of grace freely given, when obtained without falsehood, 
fraud, and for no fraudulent use, it should be liberally con- 
strued in favor of the repentant offender. 



190 LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 

A promise to pardon is not a pardon, and may at any 
time be withdrawn ; but a pardon may be offered, and the 
offer kept open, and thus be continuing, so that the person 
to whom it is offered may accept it at a future day. After 
the pardon has been accepted it becomes a valid act, and 
the person receiving it is entitled to all its benefits. 

The principles hereinbefore stated forbid, however, that 
an offer of pardon be construed as a license or indulgence 
to commit continuing or future offences, or as giving im- 
munity from the consequences of such offences. 

After the offender shall have received notice of the 
offer, or after a reasonable time shall have elapsed within 
which he must be presumed to have received notice of 
the offer, he cannot continue his ill-doing and then accept 
and rely upon the offer of pardon as an indemnity against 
what he did before, and also what he did after notice. 
Such a construction of the pardoning power would vir- 
tually convert it into a power to license crime. 

The high and necessary power of extending pardon and 
amnesty can never be rightfully exercised so as to enable 
the President to say to offenders against the law, "I now 
offer you a free pardon for the past ; or at any future day, 
when you shall, from baffled hopes, or after being foiled in 
dangerous and bloody enterprises, think proper to accept, 
J. will give you a pardon for the then past." 

When men have offended against the law, their appeal 
is for mercy, not for justice. In this country and under 
this Government, violators of the law have offended against 
a law of their own making ; out of their own mouths they 
are condemned — convicted by their own judgments — and, 
under a law of their own making, they cannot appear be- 
fore the seat of mercy and arrogantly claim the fulfilment 
of a promise of pardon which they have refused and 
defied. 

The excellence of mercy and charity in a national 
trouble like ours, ought not to be undervalued. Such 
feelings should be fondly cherished and studiously culti- 
vated. When brought into action they should be gener- 
ously but wisely indulged. Like all the great, necessary, 
and useful powers in nature or in government, harm may 
come of their improvident use, and perils which seemed 
passed may be renewed, and other and new dangers be 
precipitated. By a too extended, thoughtless, or unwise 



LIFE AND SEHVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 191 

kindness, the man or the government may warm into life 
an adder that will requite that kindness by a fatal sting 
from a poisonous fang. 

Keeping in view these obvious and fundamental princi- 
ples that fix and limit the powers of pardon and amnesty 
under the Constitution and the law, I will proceed to con- 
sider the questions propounded by you on the proclama- 
tions dated respectively the 8th day of December, 1863, 
and the 26th day of March, 1864, commonly called the 
amnesty proclamations. 

You ask my opinion, first, as to the proper construction 
and efi'ect of those proclamations upon the citizens and 
residents of rebel States who have taken the oath of 
amnesty prescribed therein. 

These two proclamations must be read together and 
regarded as one instrument. That must, at least, be so, 
from the date of the last proclamation, March 26, 1864. 
No doubt many persons did, betwixt the 8th December, 

1863, and 26th March, 1864, take the oath who could not 
have done so had the original proclamation contained the 
exceptions set forth in the second. What the rights are 
of those who took the oath in that intermediate space of 
time, and who could not have taken it after the 26th 
March, 1864, is purely a judicial question. The facts in 
such cases are accomplished, and the rights arising out of 
those facts have attached and become vested. If not im- 
proper, it would be, at least, idle in me to express an 
opinion on those cases. The judicial department of the 
Government must determine the law in those cases, when 
they are properly presented before the courts. 

For all practical purposes, so far as the executive de- 
partment of the Government is concerned, both proclama- 
tions may therefore be regarded as of date the 26th March, 

1864. From that point of view, their proper operation 
and effect are now to be considered. 

It is plainly stated on the face of the second procla- 
mation that its objects " were to suppress the insur- 
rection, and to restore the authority of the United States, 
and with reference to these objects alone." In the midst 
of a gigantic effort on the part of traitors to dismember 
our country and overthrow our Government, the Presi- 
denf, in the legitimate exercise of his great powers, in- 
voked the healing influences of charity and forgiveness, 
12 



192 LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 

His great heart but responded to the eager desire of the 
American people to win back this misguided people to 
their allegiance, and to peace and order, by gentleness, 
rather than to compel obedience by the dread powers of 
war. 

It must not be supposed that, in giving expression to 
and making a law of this noble wish of his heart, and the 
heart of the people whom he represented, it was intended 
to give license and immunity to crime and treason for the 
then future. His expressed object was " to suppress the 
insurrection, and to restore the authority of the United 
States, and that alone." 

His object was made still more manifest when he said 
that the persons " shall voluntarily come forward and take 
the said oath, with the purpose of restoring peace and 
establishing the national authority." 

The reluctant, unrepentant, defying persona who, in 
their hearts, desired the success of the rebellion and the 
overthrow of the Government, were not invited to take 
the oath ; and if ony such should take it, they would but 
add perjury — a God-defying sin — to that of treason ; and 
if that fact can be shown to a judicial tribunal, it seems to 
me that they should take no benefit from the pardon and 
amnesty. A mind and heart unperged of treason were 
not invited by the amnesty proclamation to add thereto 
the crime of perjury. 

It seems to me, then, that all the citizens and residents 
of the rebel States, not excepted from the amnesty, who 
did, after the issuing of the proclamation, or after notice 
thereof, or within a reasonable time within which it must 
be supposed they had notice, refrain from further hostili- 
ties, and take the oath of amnesty voluntarily, with pur- 
pose of ' rest orHng peace and establishing the national 
authority, being at the time free from arrest, confinement, 
or duress, and not under bonds, are entitled to all the 
benefits and rights so freely and benignly given by a 
magnanimous government. When the oath has been taken 
without the purpose of restoring peace and establishing 
the national authority, though taken promptly, it seems 
to me that the amnesty and pardon do not attach. This, 
however, is a judicial question, which the courts may 
decide contrary to my opinion. I ought not, perhaps, to 
express any. 



LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 193 

In giving this constructioti to the amnesty proclamation 
I li^ve been constantly impressed by a paragraph in the 
last annual message of the President of the United States. 
It reads as follows : "A year ago general pardon and 
amnesty, upon specified terms, were offered to all, except 
certain designated classes ; and it was, at the same time, 
made known that the excepted classes were still within 
contemplation of special clemency. During the year 
many availed themselves of the general provision, and 
many more would, only that the signs of bad faith in some 
led to such precautionary measures as rendered the prac- 
tical process less easy and certain. During the same time, 
also, special pardons have been granted to individuals of 
the excepted classes, and no voluntary application has 
been denied. Thus, practically, the door has been for a 
full year open to all, except such as were not in condition 
to make free choice ; that is, such as were in custody or 
under constraint. It is still open to all. But the time 
may come — probably will come — when public duty shall 
demand that it be closed, and that in lieu more rigorous 
measures than heretofore shall be adopted." 

A profound respect for the opinions of that great and 
good man, Abraham Lincoln, late President of the United 
States, induces me to ponder long and well before I can 
venture to ex])ress an opinion differing even in a shade 
from his. But all who had the good fortune to know him 
well must feel and know that from his very nature he was 
not only tempted, but forced to strain his power of mercy. 
His love for mankind was boundless ; his charity all-em- 
bracing, and his benevolence so sensitive that he was 
sometimes as ready to pardon the unrepentant as the sin- 
cerely penitent offender. Clearly and pointedly does the 
above paragraph show to the world that such was his 
nature. He says : " During the whole year that 'special 
pardons have been granted to individuals of the excepted 
classes, no voluntary application has been denied." The 
door of mercy to his heart was, we know, ever open ; and 
yet he closes the paragraph with this significant sentence : 
" But the time may come — probably will come — when 
public duty shall demand that it be closed, and that in 
lieu more rigorous measures than heretofore shall be 
adopted." 

It is probably fair to infer that the late President under- 



194 LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 

stood his proclamation of amnesty as giving pardon to 
all, no matter how long they had refused, and whether 
they had offended after notice of the offer or not. Whether 
his powers extended so far is, to say the least, a doubtful 
question. 

I am clear and decided in my conviction that the Presi- 
dent had no power to make an open offer of pardon which 
could be relied upon as a protection for offences committed 
after notice of the offer. This opinion is deduced from 
principle, and independently of the language of the pro- 
clamation. 

The language of the first proclamation is, however, con- 
sonant with this opinion. It is addressed to " all persons 
who have participated in the existing rebellion,^^ — words 
referring to the past. 

If I am right in this construction of the proclamation — 
and I am satisfied in my own mind that I am — another 
proclamation should be issued. Persons should not be 
invited to take an oath and to comply with terms under 
which they cannot obtain firm legal rights. It is espe- 
cially due to those who have heretofore and would now 
avail themselves, in good faith, of the benefits of pardon 
and amnesty, that another proclamation should be substi- 
tuted, covering the now past. Persons who have been 
constantly engaged in rebellion should know distinctly 
what they are to do, when and how they are to do it, to 
free themselves from punishment, in whole or in part, or 
to reinstate themselves as before the rebellion. Such as 
have been affected merely by their treasonable associations 
should be absolutely forgiven. Appropriate conditions 
should be appended to the pardon of many. The grace 
and favor of the Government should now be large and 
generous, and the operation and effect of its proffered 
mercy should not be left uncertain. 

The second question you ask is as to the rights of the 
citizens and residents of the rebel States who have not 
talccn, or offered to take, the oath and comply with the 
terms of the proclamation. 

Here, again, we meet trouble and uncertainty. 

The expressed objects of the proclamation are to s?ip- 
press the insurrection and to restore the authority of the 
United States. Can any one be permitted to take the oath 
and comply with the terms prescribed in the proclamation 



LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 195 

in a State or a community where the civil and military 
power of the insurrection has been destroyed and the 
rebellion suppressed, and the authority of the United 
States is established without let or hindrance ? Or does 
the insurrection continue, in legal contemplation, though 
not in fact, until the executive department of the Govern- 
ment shall, by proclamation, declare that it has been sup- 
pressed ? And would this proclamation of pardon and 
amnesty continue and be open after proclamation that the 
rebellion has been suppressed ? 

It would seem from the proclamation that the amnesty 
was extended to those who were willing to aid in sup- 
pressing, as well as restoring ; and yet it may and doubt- 
less will be contended, and with much force and show of 
reason, that all who have stood by and clung to the insur- 
rection till its organization and power, both civil and 
military, were gone, have nevertheless a right to take all 
the benefits of the amnesty, because they will lend a 
reluctant aid in restoring an authority which they hate. 
Amnesty is proffered for aid in suppressing and restoring ; 
amnesty is demanded for aid in the work of restoration ; 
full reward is required for less than half of the service 
that is needed. 

As a measure to aid in the suppression of the Rebellion, 
the late proclamation has done its full and complete ofi&ce. 
Now, one is desired to aid in restoring order and re- 
organizing society in the rebellious States. Reconstruc- 
tion is not needed : that word conveys an erroneous idea. 
The construction of this Government is as perfect as 
human wisdom can make it. The trial to which its 
powers and capacities have been subjected in this effort 
at revolution and dismemberment, proves with what wis- 
dom its foundations have been laid. Ours is a task to 
preserve principles and powers clearly and well defined, 
and that have carried us safely through our past troubles. 
Ours is not a duty to reconstruct, or to change. Society 
in the rebel States has not been, and is not now, in a 
normal condition, nor in harmony with the principles of 
our government. That society has rebelled against them, 
and made war upon the principles and powers of our 
Government. In so doing, it has offended and stands a 
convicted culprit. Mercy must be largely extended. Some 
of the great leaders and offenders only must be u>ade to 



196 LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 

feel the extreme rigor of the law — not in a spirit of re- 
venge, but to put the seal of infamy upon their conduct. 
But the mercy extended to the great mass of the mis- 
guided people can and should be so used as to reorganize 
society upon a loyal and freedom-loving basis. It is mani- 
festly for their good and the good of mankind, that this 
should be done. The power of pardon and mercy is ade- 
quate to this end. Such conditions, precedent and sub- 
sequent, can legally and properly be appended as will root 
out the spirit of Rebellion, and bring society in. those 
States into perfect accord with the wise and thoroughly 
tried principles of our Government. 

If this power of pardon is wisely used, peace will be 
established upon a sure and permanent basis. 

On these grounds, in addition to what has been before 
said, I am of the opinion that another and a new offer of 
amnesty, adapted to the new condition of things, should 
be proclaimed. 

I do not conceive that it is in place just now, even if I 
were prepared to do so, which I am not — because not 
sufficiently advised of the temper of those so lately in 
rebellion — for me to say what should be the terms of the 
suggested proclamation. 

I have the honor to be, sir, very respectfully, your 
obedient servant, 

James Speed, Attorney General. 

For the sake of reference and information to all, we 
insert the two Amnesty Proclamations of President Lincoln 
of December 8th, 1863, and March 26th, 1864, as follows : 

PBESIDENT LINCOLTST'S AMNESTY PBOCLAMA- 
TION OF DECEMBEK 8tli, 1863. 

By the President op the United States op America. 

PROCLAMATION. 

Washington, December Sth, 1863. 

Whereas, in and by the Constitution of the United 
States, it is provided that the President shall " have power 
to grant reprieves and pardons for offences against the 
United States, except in cases of impeachment;" and 



LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 197 

Whereas a rebelliou now exists whereby the loyal State 
governments of several States have, for a long time, been 
subverted, and many persons have committed and are now 
guilty of treason against the United States ; and 

Whereas, with reference to said rebellion and treason, 
laws have been enacted by Congress declaring forfeitures 
and confiscation of property, and liberation of slaves, all 
upon terms and conditions therein stated, and also declaring 
that the President was thereby authorized at any time there- 
after, by proclamation, to extend to persons who may have 
participated in the existing rebellion, in any State or part 
thereof, pardon and amnesty, with such exceptions, and at 
such times, and on such conditions as he may deem expe- 
dient for the public welfare ; and 

Whereas, the Congressional declaration for limited 
and conditional pardon accords with well-established ju- 
dicial exposition of the pardoning power ; and 

Whereas, With reference to said rebellion the Presi- 
dent of the United States has issued several procla- 
mations, with provisions in regard to the liberation of 
slaves ; and 

Whereas, it is now desired by some persons heretofore 
engaged in said rebellion, to resume their allegiance to the 
United States, and to reinaugurate loyal State govern- 
ments within and for their respective States ; therefore, 

I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States, 
do proclaim, declare, and make known to all persons 
who have, directly or by implication, participated in 
the existing rebellion, except as hereinafter excepted, 
that a full pardon is hereby granted to them and each 
of them, with restoration of all rights of property, ex- 
cept as to slaves, and in property cases where rights of 
third parties shall have intervened, and upon the con- 
dition that every such person shall take and subscribe 
an oath, and thenceforward keep and maintain said oath 
inviolate ; and which oath shall be registered for per- 
manent preservation, and shall be of the tenor and effect 
following, to wit.: 

'' I, , do solemnly swear, in presence of Al- 
mighty God, that I will henceforth faithfully support, pro- 
tect, and defend the Constitution of the United States, and 
the union of the States thereunder ; and that I will, in like 
manner, abide by and faithfully support all acts of Con- 



198 LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSOlS'. 

gress passed during the existing rebellion with reference 
to slaves, so long and so far as not repealed, modified, 
or held void by Congress, or by decision of the Supreme 
Court ; and that I will, in lika manner, abide by and faith- 
fully support all proclamations of the President made 
during the existing rebellion having reference to slaves, 
so long and so far as not modified or declared void by de- 
cision of the Supreme Court. So help me God." 

The persons excepted from the benefits of the foregoing 
provisions, are all who are, or shall have been, civil or 
diplomatic officers or agents of the so-called Confederate 
Government ; all who have left judicial stations under the 
United States to aid the rebellion ; all who are or shall have 
been military or naval officers of said so-called Confederate 
Government above the rank of colonel in the army, or 
of lieutenant in the navy; all who left seats in the United 
States Congress to aid the rebellion ; all who resigned 
commissions in the army or navy of the United States, 
and afterwards aided the rebellion ; and all who have 
engaged in any way in treating colored persons, or 
white persons in charge of such, otherwise than lawfully 
as prisoners of war, and which persons may have been 
found in the United States service as soldiers, seamen, 
or in any other capacity. 

And I do further proclaim, declare, and make known, that 
whenever, in any of the States of Arkansas, Texas, Lou- 
isiana, Mississippi, Tennessee, Alabama, Georgia, Florida, 
South Carolina, and North Carolina, a number of persons 
not less than one-tenth in number of the votes cast in such 
State at the Presidential election of the year of our Lord 
one thousand eight hundred and sixty, each having taken 
the oath aforesaid and not having since violated it, and 
being a qualified voter by the election law of the State 
existing immediately before the so-called act of seces- 
sion, and excluding all others, shall re-establish a State 
government which shall be republican, and in nowise 
contravening said oath, such shall be recognized as the 
true government of the State, and the State shall receive 
thereunder the benefits of the Constitutional provision 
which declares that " The United States shall guarantee to 
every State in this Union a republican form of govern- 
ment, and shall protect each of them against invasion, 
and, on application of the legislature, or the executive 



tflFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 199 

(when the Legislature cannot be convened), against do- 
mestic violence. 

And I do further proclaim, declare, and make known that 
any provision which may be adopted by such State govern- 
ment in relation to the freed people of such State, which 
shall recognize and declare their permanent freedom, pro- 
vide for their education, and which may yet be consistent, 
as a temporary arrangement, with their present condition 
as a laboring, landless, and homeless class, w^ill not be 
objected to by the national Executive. And it is sug- 
gested as not improper, that, in constructing a loyal State 
government in any State, the name of the State, the 
boundary, the subdivisions, the constitution, and the gen- 
eral code of laws, as before the rebellion, be maintained, 
subject only to the modifications made necessary by the 
conditions heretofore stated, and such others, if any, not 
contravening the said conditions, and which may be 
deemed expedient by those framing the new State govern- 
ment. 

To avoid misunderstanding, it may be proper to say 
that this proclamation, so far as it relates to State govern- 
ments, has no reference to States wherein loyal State 
governments have all the while been maintained. And, 
for the same reason, it may be proper further to say, 
that whether members sent to Congress from any State 
shall be admitted to seats, constitutionally rests ex- 
clusively with the respective Houses, and not to any 
extent with the Executive. And still further, that this 
proclamation is intended to present the people of the 
States wherein the national authority has been suspended, 
and loyal State governments have been subverted, a mode 
in and by which the national authority and loyal State 
governments, may be re-established within said States, 
or in any of them ; and, while the mode presented is the 
best the Executive can suggest, with his present impres- 
sions, it must not be understood that no other possible 
mode Vv^ould be acceptable. 

Given under my hand, at the city of Washington, the 

8th day of December, A. D. one thousand eight 

r -1 hundred and sixty-three, and of the Indepen- 

'- ■-' deuce of the United States of America the 

eighty-eighth. Abraham Lincoln. 

Bij the President : 

William H. Seward, Secretary of State. 



200 LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 



PRESIDENT LINCOLN'S AMNESTY PROCLAMA- 
TION OP MARCH 23tli, 1864. 

By the President of the United States of America. 
PROCLAMATION. 

Washington, March ^Uh, 1864. 

Whereas, it has become necessary to define the cases 
in which insurgent enemies are entitled to the benefits of 
the proclamation of the President of the United States, 
which was made on the eighth day of December, 1863, and 
the manner in which they shall proceed to avail them- 
selves of those benefits. 

And whereas, the objects of that proclamation were to 
suppress the insurrection and to restore the authority of 
the United States ; 

And whereas, the amnesty therein provided by the Presi- 
dent was offered with reference to these objects alone ; 

Now, therefore, I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the 
United States, do hereby proclaim and declare that the 
said proclamation does not apply to the cases of persons 
who, at the time when they seek to obtain the benefits 
thereof by taking the oath thereby prescribed, are in 
military, naval, or civil confinement, or custody, or under 
bonds, or on parole of the civil, military, or naval authori- 
ties, or agents of the United States as prisoners of war, 
or persons detained for ofi'ences of any kind, either before 
or after conviction ; and that, on the contrary, it does 
apply only to persons who, being yet at large and free 
from any arrest, confinement, or duress, shall voluntarily 
come forward and take the said oath, with the purpose of 
restoring peace and establishing the national authority. 
Pri=; oners excluded from the amnesty oflfered in the said 
proclamation may apply to the President for clemency, 
like all other offenders, and their applications will receive 
due consideration. 

I do further declare and proclaim, that the oath pre- 
scribed in the aforesaid proclamation of the eighth of De- 
cember, 1863, may be taken and subscribed before any 
commissioned officer, civil, military, or naval, in the service 
of the United States, or any civil or military officer of a 
State or Territory, not in insurrection, who, by the laws 



LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 201 

thereof, may be qualified for administering oaths. All 
officers who receive such oaths are hereby authorized 
to give certificates thereon to the persons respectively by 
whom they are made. And such officers are hereby required 
to transmit the original records of such oaths at as early 
a day as may be convenient to the Department of State, 
where they will be deposited, and remain in the archives 
of the Government. The Secretary of State will keep a 
register thereof, and will, on application in proper cases, 
issue certificates of such records in the customary form 
of such certificates. 

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and 
caused the seal of the United States to be affixed. 

Done at the city of Washington, the twenty-sixth day 
of March, in the year of our Lord one thousand 
P 1 ^i^^^* hundred and sixty-four, and of the In- 

L '-• dependence of the United States the eighty- 
eighth. Abraham Lincoln. 
By the President : 

William H. Seward, Secretary of State. 

AMNESTY PHOOLAMATION OP PKESIDENT 

JOHNSON OF MAY 29th, 1865. 

By the President op the United States of America 

PROCLAMATION. 

Washington, 3Iay 29th, 1865. 
Whereas, The President of the United States, on the 
8th day of December, A. D. eighteen hundred and sixty- 
three, and on the 26th day of March, A. D. eighteen hun- 
dred and sixty-four, did, with the object to suppress the 
existing rebellion, to induce all persons to return to their 
loyalty, and to restore the authority of the United States, 
issue proclamations offering amnesty and pardon to cer- 
tain persons who, had directly or by implication partici- 
pated in the said rebellion ; and whereas many persons 
who had so engaged in said rebellion have, since the 
issuance of said proclamations, failed or neglecte(^to take 
the benefits offered thereby ; and whereas many persons 
who have been justly deprived of all claim to amnesty and 
pardon thereunder, by reason of their participation directly 
or by implication in said rebellion, and continued hostility 



202 LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON". 

to the Government of the United States since the date of 
said proclamations, now desire to apply for and obtain 
amnesty and pardon : 

To the end, therefore, that the authority of the Govern- 
ment of the United States may be restored, and that 
peace, order, and freedom may be established, I, Andrew 
Johnson, President of the United States, do proclaim and 
declare that I hereby grant to all persons who have, 
directly or indirectly, participated in the existing rebellion, 
except as hereinafter excepted, amnesty and pardon, with 
restoration of all rights of property, except as to slaves, 
and except in cases where legal proceedings under the 
laws of the United States providing for the confiscation 
of property of persons engaged in rebellion, have been in- 
stituted ; but upon the condition, nevertheless, that every 
such person shall take and subscribe the following oath 
(or affirmation,) and thenceforward keep and maintain said 
oath inviolate ; and which oath shall be registered for per- 
manent preservation, and shall be of the tenor and effect 
following, to wit : 

" I, , do solemnly swear, (or affirm,) in pres- 
ence of Almighty God, that I will henceforth faithfully 
support, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United 
States and the Union of the States thereunder, and that 
I will, in like manner, abide by and faithfully support all 
laws and proclamations which have been made during the 
existing rebellion with reference to the emancipation of 
slaves. So help me God." 

The following classes of persons are excepted from the 
benefits of this proclamation : 1st, All who are or shall 
have been pretended civil or diplomatic officers or other- 
wise domestic or foreign agents of the pretended Con- 
federate Government ; 2d, all who left judicial stations 
under the United States to aid the rebellion ; 3d, all who 
shall have been military or naval officers of said pre- 
tended Confederate Government above the rank of colonel 
in the army, or lieutenant in the navy ; 4th, all who left 
seats in the Congress of the United States to aid the rebel- 
lion ; 5th, all who resigned or tendered resignations of their 
commissions in the army or navy of the United States, to 
evade duty in resisting the rebellion ; 6th, all who have en- 
gaged iu any way in treating otherwise than lawfully as 



LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 203 

prisoners of war persons found in the United States ser- 
vice as officers, soldiers, seamen, or in other capacities ; 
tth, all persons who have been or are absentees from the 
United States for the purpose of aiding the rebellion ; 8th, 
all military and na-val officers in the rebel service, who 
were educated by the Government in the Military Acad- 
emy at West Point or the United States Naval Academy ; 
9th, all persons who held the pretended offices of Gov- 
ernors of States in insurrection against the United States ; 
10th, all persons who left their homes within the juris- 
diction and protection of the United States, and passed 
beyond the Federal military lines into the so-called Con- 
federate States for the purpose of aiding the rebellion ; 
1 1th, all persons who have been engaged in the destruc- 
tion of the commerce of the United States upon the high 
seas, and all persons who have made raids into the United 
States from Canada, or been engaged in destroying the 
commerce of the United States upon the lakes and rivers 
that separate the British provinces from the United States ; 
12th, all persons who at the time when they seek to ob- 
tain the benefits hereof by taking the oath herein pre- 
scribed are in military, naval, or civil confinement, or 
custody, or under bonds of the civil, military, or naval 
authorities, or agents of the United States as prisoners of 
war, or persons detained for offences of any kind, either 
before or after conviction ; 13th, all persons who have 
voluntarily participated in said rebellion, and the esti- 
mated value of whose taxable property is over twenty 
thousand dollars ; 14th, all persons who have taken the 
oath of amnesty as prescribed in the President's proclama- 
tion of December 8th, A. D. 1863, or an oath of allegiance 
to the Government of the United States since the date of 
said proclamation, and who have not thenceforward kept 
and maintained the same inviolate. 

Provided, That special application may be made to the 
President for pardon by any person belonging to the ex- 
cepted classes ; and such clemency will be liberally ex- 
tended as may be consistent with the facts of the case and 
the peace and dignity of the United States. 

The Secretary of State will establish rules and regula- 
tions for administering and recording the said amnesty 
oath, so as to ensure its benefit to the people, and guard 
the Government against fraud. 



204 LIFE AND SERVICES OP' ANDREW JOHNSON. 

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand, 
and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed. 
Done at the City of Washington, the twenty-ninth 
day of May, in the year of our Lord one thou- 
r- -j sand eight hundred and sixty-five, and of the 
•- ■ '-' Independence of the United States the eighty- 
ninth. Andrew Johnson. 
By the President : 

William H. Seward, Secretary of State 



REORGANIZATION PROCLAMATION OP PRES- 
IDENT JOHNSON. 

THE REORGANIZATION OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

By the President op the United States op America. 

A PROCLAMATION. 

Washington, 3fay 2mh, 1865. 

Whereas, the 4th Section of- the 4th article of the Con- 
stitution of the United States declares that the United 
States shall guarantee to every State in the Union a re- 
publican form of government, and shall protect each of 
them against invasion and domestic violence; and whereas 
the President of the United States is, hy the Constitu- 
tion, made Commander-in-Chief of the Army and Navy, 
as well as Chief Civil Executive Officer of the United 
States, and is bound by solemn oath raithfully to execute 
the office of Presideat of the United States, and to take 
care that the laws be faithfully executed ; and whereas the 
rebellion, which has been waged by a portion of the peo- 
ple of the United States against the properly constituted 
authorities of the Government thereof, in the most violent 
and revolting form, but whose organized and armed forces 
have now been almost entirely overcome, has, in its revo- 
lutionary progress, deprived the people of the State of 
North Carolina of all civil government ; and whereas it 
becomes necessary and proper to carry out and enforce 
the obligations of the United States to the people of North 
Carolina, in securing them in the enjoyment of a repub- 
lican form of government: 

Now, therefore, in obedience to the high and solemn 
duties imposed upon me by the Constitution of the United 



LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 205 

States, and for the purpose of enabling the loyal people 
of said State to organize a State government, whereby 
justice may be established, domestic tranquillity ensured, 
atid loyal citizens protected in all their rights of life, lib- 
erty and property, I, Andrew Johnson, President of the 
United States and Commander-in-Chief of the Army and 
Isavy of the United States, do hereby appoint Wm. Vv . 
Iloklen, Provisional Governor of the State of North Car- 
olina, whose duty jt shall be, at the earliest practicable 
period, to prescribe such rules and regulations as may be 
necessary and proper for convening a Convention, com- 
posed of delegates to be chosen by that portion of the 
people of said State who are loyal to the United States, 
and no others, for the purpose of altering or amending 
the constitution thereof; and with authority to exercise, 
within the limits of said State, all the powers necessary 
and proper to enable such lo3^al people of the State of 
North Carolina to restore said State to its constitutional 
relations to the Federal Government, and to present such 
a republican form of State government as will entitle the 
State to the guarantee of the United States therefor, and 
its people to protection by the United States against in- 
vasion, insurrection, and domestic violence : Provided that, 
in any election that may be hereafter held for choosing 
delegates to any State Convention as aforesaid, no person 
shall be qualified as an elector, or shall be eligible as a 
member of such Convention, unless he shall have pre- 
viously taken and subscribed the oath of amnesty, as set 
forth in the President's proclamation of May 29th, A. D. 
1865, and is a voter qualified as prescribed by the Con- 
stitution and laws of the State of North Carolina in force 
immediately before the 20th day of May, A.D. 1^61, the 
date of the so-called ordinance of secession ; and the said 
Convention, when convened, or the Legislature that may 
be 'thereafter assembled, will prescribe the qualification 
of Electors, and the eligibility of persons to hold office 
under the constitution and laws of the State, a power the 
people of the several States composing the Federal Union 
have rightfully exercised from the origin of the Govern- 
ment to the present time. 

And I do hereby direct — 

First. That the Military Commander of the Department, 
and all officers and persons in the military and naval service, 



206 LIFE AXD SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 

aid and assist the said Provisional Governor in carryine^ into 
effect this proclamation, and they are enjoined to abstain 
from, in any way, hindering, impeding, or discouraging the 
loyal people from the organization of a State government, 
as herein authorized. 

Second. That the Secretary of State proceed to put in 
force all laws of the United States, the administratioa 
whereof belongs to the State Department, applicable to 
the geographical limits aforesaid. 

Third. That the Secretary of the Treasury proceed to 
nominate, for appointment, assessors of taxes and collectors 
of customs and internal revenue, and such other officers of 
the Treasury Department as are authorized by law, and 
put in execution the revenue laws of the United States 
within the geographical limits aforesaid. In making ap- 
pointments, the preference shall be given to qualified loyal 
persons residing within the districts where their respective 
duties are to be performed. But if suitable residents of the 
districts shall not be found, then persons residing in other 
States or districts shall be appointed. 

FouiHli. That the Postmaster General proceed to es- 
tablish post-offices and post-routes, and put into execution 
the postal laws of the United States within the said State, 
giving to loyal residents the preference of appointment ; 
but if suitable residents are not found, then to appoint 
agents, etc., from other States. 

Fifth. That the District Judge for the Judicial District 
in which North Carolina is included, proceed to hold courts 
within said State, in accordance with the provisions 
of the act of Congress. The Attorney General will in- 
struct the proper officers to libel and bring to judgment, 
confiscation, and sale, property subject to confiscation, and 
enforce the administration of justice within said State, in 
all matters within the cognizance and jurisdiction of the 
Federal courts. 

Sixth. That the Secretary of the Navy take possession 
of all public property belonging to the Navy Department 
within said geographical limits, and put in operation 
all acts of Congress in relation to naval affairs having ap- 
plication to the said State. 

Seventh. That the Secretary of the Interior put in force 
the laws relating to the Interior Department applicable 
to the geographical limit.s aforesaid 



LIFE AND SEEVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 207 

In testimony whereof T have hereunto set my hand and 
caused the seal of the United States to be aflQxed. 

Done at the City of Washington this twenty-ninth 
day of May, in the year of our Lord one thou- 
[l. s.] sand eight hundred and sixty-five, and of the 
Independence of the United States the eighty- 
ninth. . Andrew Johnson. 
By the President : 
William H. Seward, Secretary of State, 

It is pleasant to turn from the consideration of grave 
matters of state to the relaxations of social life, and we 
therefore present, with gratification, the subjoined report 
of an address delivered by President Johnson at a Sunday- 
school celebration in Washington city. 

ADDRESS BY PRESIDENT JOHNSON TO THE 
SABBATH-SCHOOL CHILDREN OF WASHING- 
TON CITY. 

The twenty-fifth anniversary of the Washington City 
Sunday-school Union was celebrated on Monday, May 29, 
1865. There were over five thousand children, and seven 
hundred teachers and Sabbath-school officers in attendance. 
The day was bright and beautiful, and as the children 
assembled at the points designated, each school carrying 
flags and banners, upon which were inscribed the name of 
the school, texts of Scripture, with appropriate mottoes 
and devices, and all neatly and tastefully attired, they 
presented scenes which one could not gaze upon but with 
pleasure. It is a time always looked forward to with 
pleasure by the little folks. Not only the children, but 
parents, teachers, pastors, and, indeed, all friends of 
Sabbath-schools, feel a pleasure in participating in these 
yearly celebrations. 

The first and second divisions assembled at an early 
liour in Lafayette Square, whence they marched past the 
residence of President Johnson, corner of Fifteenth and H 



208 LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 

streets. The President appeared at the door of his resi- 
dence, and was greeted by the children as thej passed. 
While marching by, they sang a patriotic hymn, "Victory 
at last." The President was frequently cheered, and was the 
recipient of a large number of bouquets, which were thrown 
into his hat until it was so full that a basket was brought 
forth to contain the floral gifts. After the children had 
marched past the residence of the President, they marched 
down Fifteenth street, and thence to the White House, 
where, after they had assembled, the President took position 
in front of the outside railing, and delivered an address to 
those assembled. Just before the President commenced 
to speak, a number of little girls were placed upon the 
stand beside and all around him, and he seemed much 
pleased to be surrounded by the children. 

The President said, if he understood the design of the 
exhibition, it was intended, in part, to show how many 
children are collected together in good schools. This was 
their annual celebration, and they had come by what was 
generally known as the Executive Mansion, in order, he 
supposed, to manifest their regard for the Chief Executive 
officer of the nation. And this respect was offered now 
to one who knew well how to appreciate the condition of 
poor or obscure children. He had always opposed the 
idea of treating persons beyond their due, and what they 
justly merited, and he would lay that down as a general 
proposition in his address to the little boys and girls who 
bad done him the honor to call upon him. He was 
opposed to deifying or canonizing any thing that is mortal ; 
but there should always be a just and proper respect and 
appreciation of true merit, whether it belongs to the 
Christian, the Statesman, or the Philanthropist. This 
was the foundation of his creed, if he had any : that all 
things should be done with the approval of Him who con- 
trols the events and destinies of the world. To these 
children — he might say his little sons and daughters — he 
would say he desired them to appreciate the difference 
between merit and demerit, and he would address his re- 
marks to those who were in better, as well as to those 
who were in humbler circumstances. To those who had 



LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 209 

superior advantages, he would say, do not become foolish 
and silly because your parents can afford to dress you a 
little better, or to educate you better. They should feel 
and know that their parents and teachers cannot of them- 
selves educate them. No one ever would be educated 
unless he educated himself. Whether you have superior 
advantages or not, you must educate yourselves. Parents, 
teachers, and advantages given, are simply the means 
placed in your hands, from which you must mould and 
shape your own course through life. But never feel that 
you are superior to your more humble companions and 
comrades. Instead of trying to humble them and make 
their condition lower, your pride should be to elevate 
them to the standard you occupy. Sometimes one may 
come in rags, and begrimed with dirt ; but beneath the 
rags and the dirt a jewel may be found as bright as any 
yet discovered, and the humble individual may develop 
that which would prove as bright an adornment as the 
jewels of any crowned head. All should understand 
this, and that even those who have no means can at least 
make an effort to be good and great. In this matter he 
(the speaker) was an agrarian — such an agrarian as would 
elevate and estimate all in proportion to their virtue and 
merit. Intrinsic merit should be the base upon which all 
should stand. He would pull none down, but would ele- 
vate all — level upwards, not level downwards. His 
notion had always been that the great mass of the American 
people could be elevated. If all will be elevated, we may 
become the greatest and most exalted nation on the earth. 
My little daughters and sons, give me your attention 
while I say, honestly and truly, that if I could inform you 
of something, and put that into immediate effect, which 
would tend to the elevation of you all, I would be prouder 
of it than to be President forty times. [Applause.] Here 
is the Executive Mansion, and yonder is the Capitol of a 
great nation, and you look to those who make and execute 
the laws as persons sublime and grand. But just think 
for a moment. You are the crop behind us. All those 
buildings, and all of this Government, will one day pass 
under your control, and become your property, and you 
will have to put in force and control the principles of gov- 
ernment, of religion, and humanity. And let all boys 
consider — every mother's son of them — [laughter] — that 



210 LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 

each one is born a candidate for the Presidency. [Laughter 
and applause.] Why not, then, commence at once to ed- 
ucate yourselves for the Presidency ? And he would say 
to the little girls, that while they could not be Presidents, 
they are born candidates for the wives of Presidents. 
[Laughter.] While each little boy may feel he is a can- 
didate for the Presidency, each little girl may feel she is 
a candidate for a President's wife ; and each should com- 
mence at once to qualify himself and herself morally, in- 
tellectually, and socially for such high positions. While 
upon this subject he would say that teachers occupy most 
responsible positions. It is the teacher who fashions, to 
a great degree, the mind of the child, and, consequently, 
the great importance of having good teachers, especially 
for the very young, in order to instil into their minds the 
foundation of a good education. 

With regard to religion, the speaker said the time had 
come when the first inquiry should be whether one is a 
good man or a good woman. If they are good it matters 
little to what sect or church they belong. There can be 
no greatness without goodness ; and all should remember 
with Pope, that 

" Honor and fame from no condition rise ; 
Act well your part — there all the honor lies." 

Under institutions such as ours, he who performs his 
part well, performs all his obligations, will sooner or later 
be properly estimated and rewarded by his friends, his 
neighbors, and the nation. 

In looking upon the children, and upon the grown per- 
sons, too, the speaker said he could not but think of the 
heavy task and responsibility devolving upon those who 
rear children, and especially upon the mothers. The 
speaker then eloquently referred to the ancient Roman 
mothers, who ever took pride in infusing proper ideas 
into the minds of those who afterwards became distin- 
guished in life. So, with them, each mother of to-day 
should feel that her children are her greatest jewels. 
They should be reared with a view to future usefulness ; 
for much depends upon how they are educated in youth. 
The daughters should be raised to fit them for the high 
and exalted duties of wives and mothers. And much in 
this world depends upon woman. Her mind properly 



LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 211 

prepared and cultivated, she has an almost Omnipotent 
power. Drop, then, into the minds of your daughters 
germs that will expand and grow, and fit them to occupj 
any position to which they may be called in life. 

When we look at these boys and girls — at the banners 
which they carry — at the flags, with stripes and stars upon 
them, which the}^ bear aloft ; when we look upon the 
brave men and gallant officers around us, and remember 
what they have been contending for — we feel that we can 
best preserve this Government if we rear up our people 
properly, and make this, as we can, the most intelligent 
portion of God's habitable globe. The stars and stripes 
is not an unmeaning symbol when we look back through 
the din of battle and see what it has cost to perpetuate 
this Government ; and should we not, then, use every 
effort to bring up properly these children, whose cause has 
been sustained by strong arms on the field of battle ? It 
was but the other day, when the stern voices of our com- 
manders were heard upon the field of battle, and when 
men were bravely rushing to death, that the Goddess of 
Liberty made a glorious tight, and in thunder tones pro- 
claimed victory. Victory has perched upon our standard, 
and the speaker said he trusted the children's little song 
of victory would be heard far up above ; and that the 
angels, standing upon the battlements of heaven, would 
take up the tune and make a response. 

Then, my little sons and little daughters, let me say to 
you, educate yourselves ; be industrious and persevering; 
store your minds with all that is good ; put all things 
worthy of preservation in your brain, and your intellect 
will expand and grow. And, in conclusion, I say again, 
may your little song of victory be heard in heaven. God 
bless you ! 

The President then attempted to enter the Presidential 
Mansion, but was intercepted in the carriage way by the 
ladies and gentlemen who had collected there, and who 
insisted upon shaking him by the hand. The President, 
very good-naturedly, complied, and held a sort of im- 
promptu levee, shaking hands with all who passed by him. 
He seemed to be especially fervent in his greetings to the 
many soldiers who availed themselves of the opportunity 



212 LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 

of taking him by the hand. The President's remarks 
pleased every one, great and small, and he was frequently 
interrupted by cheers. 

In the meantime the band struck up a patriotic air, and 
the children, having been re-formed in line, they proceeded 
to their respective churches to fulfil the programme of 
exercises for the rest of the day. 

CHARACTER AND POLICY OP ANDREW 
JOHNSON. 

The compiler of a work like the present is too near the 
period of the scene of action to form a perfectly correct 
view of the motives which govern the actions of the 
statesman whose life he has endeavored to set before the 
reader. Passion and prejudice intervene to cloud the 
vision and warp the judgment. Actions have been set 
down incorrectly, partly because those who have reported 
them are not fully advised as to their hidden causes, and 
partly because the turbid activity of the times colors the 
feelings of those who view the grand operations in which 
cotemporary statesmen are engaged. Still, we think a 
reasonably fair estimate may be made at this date of the 
character and general policy of President Johnson. We 
can all see that he has gratified the nation, beyond expres- 
sion, by the wisdom, the prudence, the reticence and the 
true conservatism of his course since the 14th of April, 
1865. Though one of the most fiery, determined men 
who ever led a faction or dominated over a party, he has 
not performed one single act which his worst enemy can 
say was unworthy of his exalted position. Though exulting 
in his origin as a child of the people as distinguished from 
the "aristocracy," he yet holds his sway with a grand and 
courteous dignity, and a wise moderation from which 
kings of ancient race might learn a lesson. Though per- 
secuted by the rebel leaders as scarcely a man in America 



LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 213 

has been, he has nobly checked personal feelings of re- 
venge and acted as if he were lifted above human passion 
and human infirmity. The trial of the alleged assassins 
of Abraham Lincoln has not called from him one fierce 
word or one act savoring of revenge. The capture of 
Jefferson Davis has been treated by him with dignity, and 
the fate of that arch-rebel will not be decided by Andrew 
Johnson as if he were an autocrat and Davis a revolted 
subject. The instant the current events allowed it, Presi- 
dent Johnson showed by ofidcial acts that he did not desire 
to desolate the South any further, but that his earnest 
desire was that prosperity should return to the trampled 
fields of the late rebellious States, and that by disbanding 
our great armies he would prove his reliance on the patri- 
otism and common sense of his fellow-citizens. That 
reliance has never failed any President, from Washington 
to Lincoln, and it will not fail President Johnson in the 
critical position in which he has been placed. His charac- 
ter has been attacked, not only by the enemies of the 
Government, but by men and journalists who have pro- 
fessed to stand by the Government, and whose loyalty 
cannot be brought in question. He has been considered 
weak, facile, and unworthy of his splendid position. Let 
the voice of his former foreign detractors answer that 
slur. In the course of an elaborate article on Mr. John- 
son, the London Spectator says : 

"A very original, very determined, it may be very dan- 
gerous, but unquestionably very powerful man, has suc- 
ceeded Abraham Lincoln. The public in this country has 
been deceived as much by the formal utterance of Mr. 
Johnson when accepting the Presidency as by the accident 
which threw such ridicule over his inauguration in the 
subordinate office. This is no feeble ruler, sure to be a 
tool in the hands of his secretaries or the parties around 
him, any more than it is a drunken rough elevated by aa 



214 LIFE AND SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 

accident and incapable of an idea, but a strong, self-reliant 
man, accustomed to rule, and to rule in a revolution, with 
a policy as distinct as that of the oldest European states- 
men, and a will which, be that policy wise or rash, will 
assuredly make resistance to it a most dangerous task. 
There is no single point in politics which it is so impor- 
tant for an Englishman to understand as the character of 
the American President ; they cannot afford a second 
mistake such as that committed about Mr. Lincoln, and 
we have passed hours in studying the speeches and acts 
of Mr. Johnson as Governor of Tennessee. The more we 
have read the more strongly has the conclusion grown on 
us that the new American President is one of the most 
individual men on the continent — a ruler who, whatever 
else he may do or leave undone, will most assuredly rule ; 
who will borrow knowledge, but accept advice only when 
it harmonizes with his own preconceived convictions." 

Such an estimate of the character of President Johnson, 
coming from a foreign source, is of great value, and we 
can but endorse its main features. He will not be dan- 
gerous except when the honor of the country is con- 
cerned, and he will prove his bold self-reliance and his 
strong individuality on every occasion when those quali- 
ties can be exercised. In short, Andrew Johnson is 
President of the United States, and by the Constitution, 
Commander-in-Chief of its Army and Navy, and in simple 
verity he will prove that he is entitled to wear the honors 
that have fallen to his lot by the mysterious workings of 
Providence and the choice of his fellow-citizens. 



THE END. 



CHEAPEST BOOK HOUSE IN THE WORLD. 

T. B. PETERSON & BROTHERS, 

336 Chastnut Street, Philadelphia, Penna., 

Publish the most SiieaMe Books in the World, and Supply all 
Uooks at the Lowest Riitcs. 

The cheapest place ia the world to buy all kinds of Books, suitable for 
all persons whatever, for the Family, Army, or Hailroad Reading, is at 
the Pub.ishing House of T. B. PETERSO>= & BROTHERS, Philadelphia. 

Any person wanting any books at all, in any quantity, from a single 
book, to X dozen, a hundred, thousand, or larger quantity of books, had 
better send on their orders at once to the " CHEAP BOOKSELLINQ 
AND PUBLISHING HOUSE of T. B. PETERSON & BROTHERS," No. 
306 ChestiiUt Street, Philadelphia, who publish over One Thousand Books, 
and have tbe largest stock in the country, and will supply them and sell 
them cheaper than any other house in the world. We have just issued a 
new and complete catalogue, which we will send to any one on application. 

Enclose one, two, five, ten, twenty, fifty or a hundred dollars, or more, 
to us in a letter, and write what kind of books you wish, and they will be 
Jacked and sent to you at once, per first express or mail, or in any other 
way you may direct, just as well assorted, and the same as if you were on 
the spot, with circulars, show-bills, etc., gratis. 

Booksellers, News Agents, Sutlers, and all others, will please address 
all orders for any books they may want, to the "PHILADELPHIA 
CHEAP PUBLISHING AND BOOKSELLING HOUSE" of 

T. B. PETERSON & BROTHERS, 306 Chestnut Street, Philada. 

Publishers of " Petersons' Detector." A Business JunrnaL Price $1.50 a year. 

And the Books will be sent to you at once, per first express after receipt 
©f order, or in any other way you may direct. 

CHAELES DICKSi^S' YfOEKS. 

Cheap edition, p"pcr cover. 

This edition is published complete in twenty-six large octavo volumes. 
In paper cover, as follows : 



Great Expectations, 75 

Lamplighter's Story, 75 

David Copperfield, 75 

pombey and Son, 75 

Nicholas Nickleby, 75 



Oliver Twist, 75 

Little Dorrit, 75 

T.ile of Two Cities, 75 

New Years' Stories, ... 75 

Dickens' Sliort Stories, 75 



Pickwick Paper?, 75 I Message from the Sea, 75 



Christmas Stories. 75 

Martin Chuzzlewit 75 

Old Curiosity Shop, 75 

Barnaby Rudgi^ 75 

Dickens' New Stories 75 



Ilolidiiy Stories, 75 

Aincricnn Notes, 75 

Pick Nic Papers, 75 

Christmas Carols, 25 

Somehody's Luq;gage 25 



Bleak House, 75 i Tom TiiUller'.-i Ground, 25 

Sketches by^Boz," 75 ' The Haunted House, 25 



2 T. B. PETERSON & BROTHERS' PUBLICATIONS. 



CHARLES DICKENS' WORKS 

ILLUSTRATED OCTAVO EDITION. 
Each hook beimj complete in one volume. 



Pickwick Papers, Cloth, $2.50 

Nicholas Nickleby, Cloth, 2.50 

Great Expectations, Cloth, 2 50 

Lamplighter's Story,.. ..Cloth, 2.50 

Oliver Twist, Cloth, 2. 50 

Bleak House, Cloth, 2.50 

Little Dorrit, Cloth, 2.50 

Dornbey and Son, Cloth, 2.50 

Sketches by " Boz," Cloth, 2.50 



David Copperfield, Cloth, $250 

Barnaby Rudge, Cloth, 2.50 

Martin Chuzzlewit, Cloth, 2.50 

Old Curiosity Shop Cloth, 2.50 

Christraas Stories Clolh, 2.50 

Dickens' New Stories,. ..Cloth, 2. 50 

A Tale of Two Cities,. ..Clotb, 2.50 
American Notes and Pie !Mc 

Papers, Clolh, 2.50" 



Price of a set, in Black cloth, in seventeen volume? $42.00 

" " Full Law Library style 50.00 

" « Half calf, sprinkled edges 60.00 

« '- Half calf, marbled edges 65.00 

" « Half calf, antique 75.00 

« « Half calf, full gilt backs, etc 76.00 



PEOPLE'S DUODECIMO EDITION. 
Each book hein(j complete in one volume. 



2.00 
2.00 
2.00 
2.00 



Pickwick Papers, Cloth, $2.00 

Nicholas Nickleby Cloth, 2.00 

Great Expectations, Cloth, 

Lamplighter's Story, ...Cloth, 

David Copperfield, Cloth, 

Oliver Twist, Cloth, 

Bleak House, Cloth, 

A Tale of Two Cities. ..Cloth, 
Dickens' New Stories,. .Cloth, 

Price of a set, in Black cloth, in seventeen volumes 

" " Full Law Library style 

" " Half calf, sprinkled edges 

" " Half calf, marbled edges , 

*' ** Half calf, antique 

« " Half calf, full gilt backs, etc 



Little Dorrit, Cloth, 

Douibey and Son, Cloth, 

Christmas Stories, Cloth, 

Sketches by "Boz," Cloth, 

BMrnaby Rudge, Cloth, 

M.nrtin Chuzzlewit, Cloth, 

2.00 I Old Curio-sity Shop, Cloth, 

2.00 ! Dickens' Short Stories,. Cloth, 
2.00 ' Message from the Sea,.. Cloth, 



$2.00 
2.00 
2.00 
2.00 
2.00 
2.00 
2.00 
2.00 
2.00 
$34.00 
42.00 
65.00 
60.00 
68.00 
68.00 



ILLUSTRATED DUODECIMO EDITION. 

Each book being complete in tico volumes, 

Pickwick Papers, Cloth, $4.00 I Sketches by "Boz," Cloth, $4.00 



Barnaby Rudge, Cloth, 

Martin Chuzzlewit Cloth, 

Old Curiosity Shop, Cloth, 

Little Dorrit C-loth, 

Dombey and Son,. Cloth, 



4.00 
4.00 
4.00 
4.0r 
4.0I» 



Tale of Two Cities, Cloth, 4.00 

Nicholas Nickleby, Cloth, 4.00 

David Copperfield, Cloth, 4.00 

Oliver Twist, Cloth, 4.00 

Christmas Stories, Cloth, 4.00 

Bleak House, Cloth, 4.00 

The folloioing are each complete in one volume. 

Great E.xpectations, Cloth, $2.00 I Dickens' New Stories,..Cloth, $2.00 

Lamplighter's Story,. ...Cloth, 2.00 1 Message from the Sea,. Cloth, 2.00 

Price of a set, in thirty volumes, bound in cloth, gilt backs $60.00 

« " Full Law Library stvle 75.00 

" « Half calf, antique...'. 120.00 

« « Half calf, full gilt back 120.0* 



T. B. PETERSON & BROTHERS' PUBLICATIONS. 3 



CHARLES DICKENS' WORKS. 

LIBRARY OCTxWO EDITION, IN SEVEN VOLUMES. 
This edition is in SEVEN lar<?e octavo volumes, with a Portrait on 
steel of Charles Dickens, and bound in the following various styles. 

Price of a set, in Black Cloth, in seven volumes $20.00 

" " Law Library stvle 24.00 

" " Half calf, sprinided edges 26.00 

" « Half calf, marbled edges 28.00 

" " Half calf, antique 35.00 

« " Half calf, full gilt backs, etc 35.00 



G. W. M. REYNOLDS' WORKS. 

00 Mary Price, 1 00 

50 Eustace Quentin, 1 00 

00 Joseph Wilmot, 1 00 

00 Banker's Daughter, 1 OO 

00 Kenneth, 1. 00 

00 The Rye-House Plot, 1 00 

00 The Necromancer, 1 00 



Mysteries of Court of London,.. 1 

Rose Foster, 1 

Caroline of Brunswick, 1 

Venetia Trelawney, 1 

Lord Saxondale, 1 

Count Christoval, 1 

Rosa Lambert, 1 



The above are each in paper cover. Each one of a finer edition, la also 
bound in one volume, cloth, for $2.00 each. 



The Opera Dancer, 75 

The Ruined Gamester, 50 

Child of Waterloo, 75 

Ciprina; or. Secrets of a Pic- 
ture Gallery, 50 

Robert Bruce, 75 

Discarded Queen, 50 

The Gipsey Chief, 75 

Mary Stuart, Queen of Scots,... 75 

Wallace, Hero of Scotland, 75 

Isabella Vincent, 75 

Vivian Bertram, 75 

Countess of Lascelles, 75 



The Soldier's Wife, 75 

iMay Middleton, 75 

Duke of Marchraont, 75 

Massacre of Glencoe, 75 

Queen Joanna; Court Naples, 75 

Loves of the Harem, 50 

Ellen Percy, 75 

Agnes Evelyn, 75 

Pickwick Abroad, 75 

Parricide, 50 

Life in Paris, 50 

Countess and the Page, 50 

Edgar Montrose, 50 



ALEXANDER DUMAS' WORKS. 



Count of Monte Cristo, 1 50 



The Iron Mask, 1 00 

Louise La Valliere, 1 00 

Memoirs of a Marquis, 1 00 

Diana of Meridor, 1 00 

The Three Guardsmen, 75 

Twenty Years After, 75 

Bragelonne, 75 

The above are each in paper co 
above are also published, bound in 

The Conscript, 1 50 

Above are each in one volume, p 
lished in one volume, cloth. Price 

Eilmond Dantes, 75 

George, 50 

Felina de Chambure, 75 

The Horrors of Paris, r, 50 

Annette, Lady of Pearls, 50 

The Fallen Angel, 50 



Memoirs of a Physician, 1 00 

Queen's Necklace, 1 00 

Six Years Later, 1 00 

Countess of Charney, 1 00 

Andree de Taverney, 1 0? 

The Chevalier, 1 00 

Forty-five Guardsmen, 75 

The Iron Hand, 75 

ver. A finer edition of each of the 
one volume, cloth, price $2.00 each. 

I Camille, 1 50 

nper cover. Each book is also pub- 
$2.00 each. 

Sketches in France, 50 

Isabel of Bavaria,, 75 

Mohicans of Paris, 60 

Man with Five Wives, 75 

Twin Lieutenants, 75 



4 T. B. PETERSOU & BROTHERS' PUBLICATIONS. 



MRS. EOUTHWCETH'S WORKS. 



The Bridal Eve, 1 50 

The Fatal Marriage, 1 50 

Love's Labor Won, 1 50 

Deserted Wife, 1 60 

The Gipsy's Prophecy, 1 50 

The Mother-in-Law 1 50 

ILiunted Homestead, 1 50 

The Lost Heiress, 1 50 

Lady of the Isle, 1 50 

The Two Sisters, 1 50 

The Three Beauties, 1 50 

Vivia: Secret Power, 1 50 



V,if'/.< \'i(t.a-y, 1 

He tn bull on 1 

India. Pearl of Pearl River,. 1 

Cur.-^e of Clifton, 1 

Du^Ciirded Daughter, 1 50 

The Initials, 1 50 

The Jealous Husband, 1 50 

Self-Sacrifice, 1 50 

Belle of Washington, 1 50 

Kate Aylesford, 1 50 

Courtship and Matrimony, 1 60 

Family Pride, 1 50 

Family Secrets, 1 50 

Each book is also 



The Missing Bride, 1 60 

The above are each in one volume, paper cover, 
published in one volume, cloth, price S2.00 each. 
Hickory Hall, 50 | Broken Engagement, 25 



CAROLINE LEE HENTZ'S WORKS. 



The Planter's Northern Bride,.. 1 50 
Linda, 1 50 



Love after Marriage,. 

Eolino, 

Forsgken Daughter,. 
The Banished Son,.. 
Helen and Arthur,... 
Planter's Daughter,. 
Benutiful Widow, 



50 
50 
50 
50 
50 



1 50 



50 
50 



Each book is also 



Robert Graham, 1 50 

Courtship and Marriage, 1 50 

Ernest Linwood, 1 50 

Rena; or, the Snow-bird, 1 50 

Marcus Warland, 1 50 

The Lost Daughter, 1 50 ' Brorher's Secret, 

The above are each in one volume, paper cover, 
published in one volume, cloth, price $2.00 each. 

FREDRIKA BREMER'S WORKS. 

Father and Daughter, 1 50 I The Neighbors, 1 50 

The Four Sisters, 1 50 I The Home, 1 50 

The above are each in one volume, paper cover. Each one is also pub- 
lished in one volume cloth, price $2.00 each. 

Life in the Old World; or. Two Years in Switzerland and Italy, by Miss 
Bremer, in two volumes, clotii, price, $4.00 

MRS, ANN S. STEPHENS' WORKS. 

Silent Struggles; an entire new i Fashion and Famine, 1 50 

book, just ready 1 50 ! Marv Derwent, 1 50 

The Wife's Secret, 1 50 I Tiie Old Homestead, 1 50 

The Rejected Wife, 1 50 | Tlie Heiress. 1 50 

The above are each in one volnmo, pnper cover. Each book is als<i 
published in one volume, cloth, price $2.00 each. 

CATHERINE SINCLAIR'S, AND OTHER AUTHORS. 

The Dcvotrd Bride, 1 50 



Flirtations in Fashionable Life, 1 50 

The Rival Belles, ] 50 

The Lost Love, 1 oO 

TheWoman in Black, 1 .^0 

The Pride of Life, 1 oO 

The above aro each in one volume, pnper cover 
published in one volume, cloth, prico $3.00 each. 



Love and Duty 1 50 

Boheminns in T/ondon, 1 50 

Hieh Life ill Washington 1 50 

The Rt'furco 1 50 

Each book is also 



T. B. PETERSOJr & BROTHERS' PUBLICATIONS. 5 



CHARLES LEVER'S WORKS. 



Charles O'Malley, 75 

Harry Lorrequer, 75 

Jack Hinton, 75 

Tom Burke of Ours, 75 

Knight of Gwynue, 75 



Arthur O'Leary, 75 

Con Cregan, 75 

Davenport Dunn, 75 

Horace Teuapleton, ,.. 75 

Kate O'Donoghue, 75 



We also publish a Military Edition of Lever's Novels, with Illuminated 
covers in colors, price 75 cents each. 

A finer edition of the above are also published, eac_ one complete ia 
one volume, cloth, price $2.00 a volume. 

Ten Thousand a Year, paper,... 1 50 1 The Diary of a Medical Stu- 
Ten Thousand a Year, cloth,... 2 00 | dent, 75 

DOESTICKS' WORKS. 

Doesticks' Letters, 1 50 I The Elephant Club, 1 50 

Plu-Ri-Bus-Tah, 1 50 I Witches of New York, 1 50 

Above are each in paper cover, or each one in cloth for $2.00 each. 

WAR NOVELS. EY HENRY MORFORD. 

The Coward 1 50 I Days of Sho<]dy, 1 50 

Shouldcr-Strnps, 1 50 1 

Above are each in paper cover, or each one in ch)th, for $2.00 each. 

BEST COOK BOOKS PUBLISHED. 

Petersons' New Cook Book, never before issued, 2 00 

Miss Leslie's New Cookery Book, 2 00 

AViddifield's New Cook Book, 2 00 

Mrs. Hale's Receipts for the Million, 2 00 

Miss Leslie's New Receipts for Cooking, 2 00 

Mrs. Hale's New Cook Book, 2 00 

Francatelli's Celebrated Cook Book. The Modern Cook, with 62 

illustrations, 600 large octavo pages. 5 00 

GREEN'S WORKS ON GAMBLING. 

Gambling Exposed 1 50 I The Reformed G;imbler, 1 50 

The Gambler's Life, 1 50 I Secret Band of Brothers, 1 50 

Above aro each in paper cover, or each one in cloth, for $2.00 each. 

MRS. HENRY WOOD'S BOOKS. 



Lord Onkburn's Daughters, 1 50 

OswaldCray, ' 1 50 

Squire Trevlyn's Heir, 1 50 



The Castle's Heir, 1 50 

Shadow of Ashlydyat, 1 50 

Verner's Pride, 1 50 



Above are each in paper cover, or each one in cloth, for $2.00 each. 



A Life's Secret, 50 

Better for Worse, 75 



The Runaway Match, 50 

The Mystery 75 

The Lost Bank Note, 75 

Above are each in paper cover, or each one in cloth, for $1.00 each. 
The Channings 1 00 | Aurora Floyd, 75 

Above are each in paper cover, or each one in cloth, for $1.50 each. 

The Haunted Tower 50 I The Lawyer's Secret, ... 25 

Foggy Night' at Offord, 25 ! William Allair, 25 



6 T. B. PETEESON & BROTHERS' PUBLICATIONS. 



GUSTAVE AIMARDS' WORKS. 



The Prairie Flower,. 
The Indian Scout,... 
The Trail Hunter,... 
The Indian Chief,... 
The Bed Track, 



i 

75 
7J 
7o 
75 



Pirates of the Prairies, 75 

Tr.-ijiper's Daughter, 75 

The Ti,-:er Slayer, 75 

The Gold Seekers, 75 

The Smuggler Chief, 75 



MRS. DANIELS' GREAT BOOKS. 



Marrying for Money, 75 

Meta's Folly ; or. Reaping the 
Whirlwind 75 



Kate Walsingham, 50 

The Poor Cousin, 50 



WILKIE COLLINS' BEST WORKS. 

The Crossed Path, 1 50 | The Dead Secret, 1 50 

The above are each in one volume, paper cover. Each one is also pub- 
lished in one volume, cloth, price $2.00 each. 



Hide and Seek, 75 

After Dark, 75 

The Dead Secret, 75 



The Stolen Mask, 25 

The Yellow Mask, 25 

Sister Ptose, 25 



Sights A-Footj or, Travels Beyond Bailways, 50 

MISS PARDOE'S WORKS, 



Rival Beauties, 75 

Romance of the Harem, 50 



The Jealous Wife, 50 

Confessions of a Pretty Woman, 50 

The Wife's Trials, 75 

The five above books are also bound in one volume, cloth, for $.3.00. 
The Adopted Heir. One volume, paper, $1.50; or cloth, $2.00. 
A Life's Struggle. By Miss Pardoe. one volume, cloth, $2.00. 

G. P R. JAMES'S BOOKS. 

Lord Montague's Page, 1 50 | The Cavalier, 1 50 

The above are each in one volume, paper cover. Each book is also pub' 
lished in one volume, cloth, price $2.00 each. 

The Man in Black, 75 I Arrah Neil, 75 

Mary of Burgundy, 75 I Eva St. Clair, 50 

GEORGE SAND'S WORKS. 



Consuelo, 75 

Countess of Rudolstadt, 75 

First and True Love, 75 

The Corsair, 50 



Indiana, two volumes, paper,. 1 50 

or in one volume, cloth, 2 00 

Consuelo and Rudolstadt, both 

in one volume, cloth, 2 00 



GOOD BOOKS FOR EVERYBODY. 

The Refugee, 1 50 , Lola Montez' Life, 1 50 



Life and Adventures of Don 

Quixotte, 1 00 

Adventures in Africa, 1 00 

Adventuresof Peregrine Pickle 1 00 

Adv^entures of Tom Jones 1 00 

Afternoon of Unniarriod Life,.. 1 50 



CurrcrLyle, 1 50 

Wild Southorn Scenes, 1 50 

Humors of Falconbridge, 1 50 

Secession, Coercion, and Civil 

War 1 50 

Li'e and Beauties Fanny Fern, 1 60 



Lady Maud; or, the Wonder of Kingswood Chase, 1 50 

Above are each in paper cover, or each one in clothj for $2.00 each. 



J5@-OET UP YOUK €1.11158 FOli 1S65 ! 

NEW AND SPLENDID PREMIUMS! 



thepr 
Two 



Notwitlistanding the enormously increased cost of Paper, aud the consequent rise in 
price of other Magazines '"Peteraon's" will still be furnished to Single Subscribers at 
iivu Dollars A Year, CasJi in A'lvance. Arrangements have been made, by whicli. in 
1865, it will be betler than ever. No Magazine of similar merit will approach it in cheap- 
ness, heuce it will be emphaticallj', 

THB MAGAZINE FOB, THE TIMES! 

The stories in "Peterson'' are conceded to be the hrst pvhlishcd anywhere. Mrs. Ann 
S. Stephens, Ella Rndman, Mrs. Denison, Frank Lee Benedict, the author of "Susy L"s 
Diary," T. S. Arthur, E. L. Chandler Moulton, Leslie Walter, Virginia F. Towuseud 
Rosalie Grey, Clara Augusta, and the author of "The Second Life," besides all the most 
popular female writers of America, are regular contributors. In addition to the usujil 
number of shorter sturies, there will be given in 1SU5, Four Original Copy- 
righted Noveietes. 

lu its Illustrations also, "Peterson" is unrivalled. The Publisher clialb-nges a com. 
parison between its SUPERB MEZZOTINTS AND OTHER STEEL ENGRAVINGS and 
those in other Magazines, and one at least is given in every number. i 

COLORED FASHIOIU PLATES m ADVAKCL 

It is the ONLY MAGAZINE whose Fashion Plates can be relied on. 

Each number contains a Fashion Plate, engraved on steel, and colored — from Fashions 
later than any other Magazine gives ; also a dozen or more New Styles, engraved on 
wood; also, a Pattern, from which a Dress, Mantilla, or Child's Costume can be cut, 
without the aid of a mantua-niaker — so that each number, in this way, w'ill SAVE A 
YEAR'S SU8SORIPTION. The Paris, London, Philadelphia and New York fasliions 
are described, at length, each month. Patterns of Caps, Bonnets, Head Dresses, &c. given. 

COLORED PATTERNS IN EMBROIDERY, CROCHET, &c. The -Work-Tablo de- 
partment of this Magazine IS WHOLLY UNRIVALLED. Every number containsa dozen 
or more patterns in every variety of Fancy-work : Crochet, Embroidery, Knitting, Bead- 
work, Shell-work, Hair-work, &c., Ac, &c. Every mouth, a SUPERB COLORED PAT- 
TERN FOR SLIPPER, PURSE or CHAIR SEAT, &c., is given— each of which, at a 
retail store, would cost Fifty cents. No other Magazine gives these Colored Patterns. 

JSJ^ ElVTIHEL^Iir NEVi^ COOIi-BOOKI. 

The original Household receipts of " Peterson" are quite famous. For 1865, receipts 
for every kind of dish will be given. EVERY OME OF THESE RECEIPTS HAS BEhN 
TESTED. The whole, at the end of the year, will make a COOK-BOOK in itself. 
This alone will be worth the price of "Peterson." Other receipts for the Toilette, Sick 
room, &c., &c., will be given. NEW AND FASHIONABLE MUSIC will appear in every 
number. Also, Hints on all matters interesting to Ladies. 

TERMS— ALWAYS IN ADVANCE. 

To single subscribers, the price of "Peterson" will remain as we have said, TWO DOL- 
LARS A YEAR. But in order that friends and neighbors may save money, by clubbing 
together, the following tempting terms are offered, viz : 

Two Copies for one year, - - - $3.00 I Eight Copies for one year, - - - $1.2.00 
Four Copies for one year, - - - $6.00 ] Fourteen Copies for one year, - - $Ju.uo 

PREMIUMS FOR CLUBS OF EIGHT OR FOURTEEN.— To any person getting 
up a club of Eight and remitting Twelve Dollars — or a club of Fourteen and remitting 
Twenty Dollars, we will send, as a Premium, our new copy-right steel-engraving, for 
framing— size i:7 inches by 20— "WASHINGTON PARTING FROM HIS GENERALS," 
after a drawing by F. 0. Darley. This is the most superb Premium ever offered. Or, 
if preferred, we will send for the Premium, a LADY'S ALBUM, illustrated, and hand- 
somely bound and gilt. Or if preferred to either of these, we will send, as a Premium, 
an extra cnpyoftfte Magazine far lS'i5. For clubs of two or four, no premiums .are given, 
Always say, in remitting for a club of eight, or a club of fourteen, which of the Pre- 
miums is preferred. 

Address, post-paid, CHARLES J. PETEBSON, 

Ko. 306 Chestnut St., Phila. 
JB^ All Postmasters constituted Agents ; but any person may get up a club. Speci- 
mens sent gratuitously if written for. 



LIVES OF PRESIDENTS AND GENERALS. 



ILLUSTRATED LIFE, SERVICES, MARTYRDOM, AND FUWE- 
R AL OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN, Sixteenth President of the United States. 
With a full history of his Life; Assassination; Death, and Funeral. His career as a 
Lawyer and Politician ; his services in Con^'ress ; with his Speeches, Proclamations, 
Acts, and bervices as President of the United States, and Commander-in-Chief of the 
Army and Navy, from the time of his first Inauguration as President of the United 
States until the night of his assassination. Only new and complete edition, with a full 
history of the assassination of the President, by distinguished eye-witnesses of it. Mr. 
Lincoln's Death-bed scenes, and a full account of the Funeral Ceremonies from the tims 
bis remains were placed in the East Room at the White House, until they were finally 
consigned to their last resting place, in Oak Ridge Cemetery, at Springfield, Illinois, 
with Addresses and Sermons by the Hon. Schuyler Colfax ; Hon. George Bancroft ; 
Rev. Henry Ward Beecher ; General Walbridge ; Bishop Simpson, etc., with a full 
account of the escape, pursuit, apprehension, and death of the assassin. Booth. With a. 
Portrait of President Lincoln, and other Illustrative Engravings of the scene of the 
murder, etc. Price Seventy-five cents in paper, or One Dollar in cloth. Agents sup- 
plied with the paper cover edition at Five Dollars a dozen, fifty copies for Twenty Dol- 
lars, or $37.50 a hundred ; or with the cloth edition at Eight Dollars a dozen, fifty 
copies for Thirty Dollars, or Sixty Dollars a hundred. 

THE LIFE, SPEECHES, AND SERVICES OP ANDRE^W JOHN- 
SON, Seventeenth President of the United States. With a full History of his Life; 
his career as a Tailor Boy, Alderman, Mayor, Legislator, State Senator, Governor of Ten- 
nessee, and his services in Congress, with his Speeches on the Rebellion, and the part 
taken by him from the first outbreak of the War, with his Speeches, Proclamations, 
Acts and services since becoming President of the United States. With his Portrait. 
Complete in one large volume. Price 75 cents in paper, or One Dollar in cloth. Agents 
supplied with the paper cover edition at Five Dollars a dozen, fifty copies for $20.00, or 
$.37.50 a hundred; or with the cloth edition at Eight Dollars a dozen, fifty copies for 
Thirty Dollars, or Sixty Dollars a hundred. 

ILLUSTRATED LIFE, CAMPAIGNS, AND SERVICES OF LIEU- 
TENANT-GENERAL GRANT; The hero of "Fort Donelson," " Vicks- 
burg,'' "Chattanooga," "Petersburg," and "Richmond," also Captor of "General 
Lee's" and "General Johnston's" entire armies. With a full History of his Life, Cam- 
paigns and Battles, and his Orders, Reports, aud Correspondence with the War Depart- 
ment and the President iu relation to them, from the time he first took the field in this 
war until the present time. Complete in one large volume. With a portrait of General 
Grant, and other Illustrative engravings of the Battles of Fort Donelson; General Lee's 
surrender to General Grant ; the Union array entering Richmond, etc. Price 75 cents 
in paper, or One Dollar in cloth. Agents supplied with the paper cover edition at Five 
Dollars a dozen, or fifty copies for $20.00 ; or $37.50 a hundred ; or with the cloth edi- 
tion at Eight Dollars a dozen, fifty copies for Thirty Dollars, or Sixty Dollars a hundred. 

THE LIFE. CAMPAIGNS, REPORTS, BATTLES, AND PUBLIC 
SERVICES OF MAJOR-GENERAL GEORGE B. McCLELLAN, 
the HERO OF WESTERN VIRGINIA ! SOUTH MOUNTAIN ! and ANTIETAM. With his 
Portrait. In one large volume of 200 pages. Price fifty cents in paper, or seventy-five 
cents in cloth. Aj^'euts supplied with the Fifty cent edition at $3.50 a dozen, or f^io.OO a 
hundred ; or with the cloth edition at Six Dollars a dozen, or Forty-five Dollars a hundred 

THE LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF MAJOR-GENERAL 
BENJAMIN F. BUTLER, the Hero of " New Orleans." With his Portrait. 
Price 25 cents. Agents supplied at •$1.50 a dozen, or Ten Dollars a hundred. 

THE LIFE AND SERVICES OF MAJOR-GENERAL GEORGE G. 

MEADE, the Hero of " Gettysburg,"' aud Commander of the Army of the Potomac. 
With his Portrait. Price 25 cents. Agents supplied at $1.50 a dozen, or $10. 00 a hundred. 

THE LIFE OF ARCHBISHOP HUGHES, first Archbishop of New York; 

with a full account of iiis Life, Death, and Burial- With his Portrait. Price 25 cents. 

Ai^ents supplied at $1.50 a dozen, or Teu Dollars a hundred. 

Published and for tale at the Cheapest Book House in the world to buy or send foi" a 
stock of any kinds of books you may wish, which is at 

T. B. PETERSON & BROTHERS, 

No. 306 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia, Pa. 

To whom all ordf'rs and remittances must come addressed to meet with prompt attentiou. 
Copies of above books will bo -seut per mail, free ot postage, ou receipt of retail price. 



X, 



?> o^ 






\/ 






^ ^ 






<>. ' * « ^ ^^ V * n <> ^ ^ « >> 















iM^z %\^^ 












* /v .S/ ,.X , <^ 






■% 



a5- O. 



a: 






<^- 



'4 



■^ 



*\f.^^ °- 



f 













<< 









^ . •? J?) 



0, % '^^' .V' 



^ o5 9^ '. 



oi. 


















J it t: 






,^^ 9.. 



"^AO^ 



.^^ 



. '% 



^A^.%. .A^ 






^.1 






.^' 






1 <> c 









<?' 






■^ Y- /i^ ^ '^ -<1 













